Seeing Sounds

Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley are back for more genre-bending funk rock and experimental hip-pop on SEEING SOUNDS. The album title reportedly refers to synesthesia--a rare neurological phenomenon that results in a mixture of the senses--but, like all of N.E.R.D.'s sonic excursions, album three might be better named after schizophrenia! The boys continue to expand on their already eclectic musical foundations, each song defying the standards established by its predecessor. Pharrell does his best Lil Jon impression on "Anti Matter," as fevered shouts of "What!" pepper the marching-band drum track. "Spaz" meshes a Beastie Boys-esque rhyme scheme with a hyper Drum `N' Bass background. "Yeah You" is a leisure-suit lounge take on Cake's brand of deadpan rock, while "Sooner or Later" works like a tongue-in-cheek lampoon of a tear-jerking Brit-Pop ballad. From start to finish, SEEING SOUNDS is an audible rollercoaster that refuses to be classified.