International Affairs

Philadelphia's Vikter Duplaix has been equally present in the contemporary R&B scene in the U.S. and the dance scene in the U.K., but he's been more visible in the latter, releasing the occasional 12" and contributing remixes and vocals to a small assortment of artists' releases. In the States, he's been more of a background figure, lending production, songwriting, and instrumentation to records by Musiq, Jaguar Wright, Erykah Badu, and King Britt. His full-length debut is just as eclectic as you'd expect, and even more so — and that's the only thing that makes it less than phenomenal. Duplaix is clearly a jack of all trades, but he's only a master of some, too anxious to show of his eclecticism. For instance, an identikit Latin track written with Bebel Gilberto sticks out like a sore thumb, and its vocal hook goes, "She's a tropical girl living in a digital world." After removing that and a couple of B-moments, there's a great 40-minute LP — one of the better neo-soul records of 2002/2003. The tracks produced with 4hero's Marc Mac — the exquisitely crafted "Lust for Life" and the smoldering "Looking for Love" (insert Eddie Murphy joke here) — are definite high points, incorporating subtle inflections of the broken beat style pioneered by Mac's group. Most of the remainder is produced with frequent studio partner James Poyser; a good balance is struck between energetic, beat-heavy grooves ("What We Want") and more laid-back fare ("I Got You"), while some songs were obviously conceived with baby-making in mind ("Desperately"). Duplaix possesses one of those smooth voices that slides down the throat like meringue; you'll either get enough after five minutes or want to listen to it all day and all night. Here's hoping International Affairs isn't the last listeners hear from him in a solo capacity. He's got too much talent to remain in the shadows. [The album was released in the U.S. in early 2003 as International Affairs v2.0, with a slightly different track listing compared to International Affairs v1.0.]