After being a ‘90s one hit wonder as one half of Charles & Eddie, neo-soul singer Eddie Chacon receded from view for a few decades, hiding out in the Hollywood Hills until it was time to cruise back down the hill reimagined as an R&B elder in 2020 with Pleasure, Joy And Happiness. Full of sage koans about life, it found Chacon in perfect alignment with producer John Carroll Kirby, who himself favors space and calm in his production work for Solange and Frank Ocean.

Chacon and Kirby return with Sundown, which nudges the tempo up ever so slightly while keeping such mindfulness intact. The cycles of the moon and sun, of waxing and waning, remembering and forgetting, cycle throughout the album, especially on the crisp backbeat of “The Morning Sun.” Chacon leans into his musical upbringing, his raspy vocals conjuring memories of early Philly soul. Hand drums and Kirby’s gurgling stream keyboards add peace and stillness to “Far Away” while Chacon croons about “thinking way too much.” Offsetting the extreme inputs of modernity, a more upbeat Chacon reminds you to slow down. So perhaps pause and take in that sunset over the Pacific before heading out into the night.

Eddie Chacon was one-half of 90s pop-soul duo Charles and Eddie, and Sundown is his second solo album in a wonderful post-2020 return to music, eight heavyweight, heatwave-hazy, blissed out Balearic soul and R’n’B tracks, constructed from muted keys, Stevie Wonder Innervisions synths, and softly clattering, languid percussion, all arranged around Chacon’s lovelorn vocals. It’s an aptly named album, managing through the alchemy of music to capture something of those magical transitional summer sunset moments in its grooves, recalling the charge in the air and the hyperreal feel as night approaches. Sundown’s oh-so-softly simmering songs feel plainly honest and intimate and effortlessly low-key in the most beguiling manner. Play it at sundown.