In 2023, with “Erotic Probiotic 2”, Marcus Eliott Brown appeared on the scene. The album was received very well: catchy melodies, broad-spectrum 80s, a certain emotional charge. Two years later we find Marcus Eliott Brown, aka Nourished By Time, still there, playing with a musical library that goes from synth-pop to r'n'b, from soul to dance, and composing stories of waiting and loneliness, poised between disillusionment and hopes of redemption. The new work has a less enigmatic title than the previous one and immediately places emotions at the center as the thematic core of the work.
“Automatic Love” is a song that may seem at first glance rather cheerful and carefree, with its intro syncopated and a refrain that would work very well sung in a choral way at a concert, but then you realize that there is no choir and there is not even irony in the voice, but rather a lot of coldness, despite the singing of love. A little more warmth shines through in the subsequent “Idiot In The Park”, but the story of the dialogue with the psychic leaves more uncertainties and ambiguities around the need to have someone close.
“Max Potential”, one of the singles that preceded the album, brings anguish to a more general dimension, compared to paranoia, social pressure; the invitation to develop one's potential to the maximum exhausts and compresses individuals and also their feelings, because love is not the hope of the future, but a memory that remains, to partially compensate for failure, while relationships also expire in incommunicability.
A sort of integration can be glimpsed in “It's Time”, but the lack of points of reference (personal, religious) and the desire not to resign oneself to mediocrity end up giving way in the face of substances and a mental prison crowded with mysterious and ambiguous symbols.
However, after “Cult Interlude,” the mood general improves a bit: “9 2 5” has a slightly more light-hearted flow; it is still a story of attempts at redemption and to make it in a hostile world, but also an invitation not to be completely canceled by the system, despite the alienating jobs and the passing of time. The subsequent “Crazy People” also focuses on a more danceable rhythm, as well as a long synth interlude. “Jojo” is one of the best performed songs, in which the performance The singer's baritone manages to try his hand at multiple registers, before giving way to Tony Bontana's rap part. Rap which is also taken up by Brown himself in the following “Baby Baby”, a very particular piece, because halfway through the music takes over and the voice becomes a complement to a more general whole.
“Tossed Away” is a ballad, somewhere between crooner and soul, more traditional than the rest of the songs, in which even the lyrics become warmer and more romantic. As well as in “The War Is Over”, which boasts one of the most beautiful melodies on the album and is another moment of partial serenity. The ending is for the title trackwhich maintains the mood more serene than the last songs on the album.
In conclusion, “The Passionate Ones” is a well-produced and well-sung album, which confirms Brown's talent as a singer and musician. The texts are often essential, but manage without verbosity to say what is needed and to represent the concerns, but without being completely overwhelmed.
30/11/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
