Then There's Now (Bonus Track Version)

On his second solo outing, String Cheese Incident keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth shows an affinity for both jazz-funk grooves and singer/songwriter introspection. In contrast with the SCI’s freeranging jam excursions this effort is more tightly focused, though still emphasizing the supple syncopations that made his band such an enduring cult favorite. Hollingsworth’s piano licks and organ embellishments bring to mind such past keyboard masters as Jimmy Smith and Richard “Groove” Holmes. Tracks like “The Way It Goes” and “Wide Open” slink and sashay with the zest of prime ‘60s soul and jazz. On “Phat Cat,” he kicks his sound a decade or two forward with the help of DJ Logic’s turntable wizardry. What’s most interesting, though, is the emergence of Hollingsworth’s lyric sensibility — if “Too Young” and “She” are any indication, he possesses a spacey sort of mellowness that wouldn’t be out of place on, say, a Bob Weir solo album. He matches his philosophical outlook with his rhythmic ideas most effectively on “All Inside,” a swaying chant-along tune.