Bando Stone and the New World Double Vinyl

It is with a certain sadness for his fans across mediums that Donald Glover has declared Bando Stone and the New World the last Childish Gambino album. The ostensible soundtrack to a featurelength movie of the same name, the hourlong project includes snippets of dialogue that hint at the films apocalyptic subject matter. The fact that the soundtrack is preceding the actual film is part of Glovers strategy He wants listeners to work to figure out what theyre listening to. The soundtrack forces the audience to participate in a way that I don039t feel like most things force you to participate, he says. It forces you to have an imagination. I already see people being like, 039This is very cinematic, this must be the part that... This feels like a credit sequence.039 A lot of stuff feels flat because it039s not asking you to participate. Art used to be you had to participate on some level and have some sort of thought process on it. You can039t just be like, 039Oh, this is mid.039 Even without the benefit of the full visuals, these 17 tracks make for a satisfying swan song that synthesizes what came before with fresher ideas gleaned from the threshold of finality.