Volcanic Sunlight


Volcanic Sunlight is the fourth solo studio album by Saul Williams. It was released by Columbia Records in 2011.
The album features a different approach than his previous albums, embracing a dance-pop direction, with various influences from funk, disco, '60s garage rock, new wave, and dubstep.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73% based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Alexander Heigl of PopMatters gave the album 6 stars out of 10, calling it "a solid, finely-tuned album that reveals new turns and tricks with every listen." Dylan Grier of Okayplayer gave the album an 85 out of 100, writing: "this album is, in many ways, much simpler than many of his previous offerings, but may leave listeners more confounded than ever."

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.
  • Saul Williamslead vocals, songwriting, arrangement, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion
  • Renaud Létang – production, arrangement, keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, tambourine, piano, mixing
  • David Sztanke – keyboards
  • Vincent Taeger – drums, tambourine
  • Vincent Taeger – percussion
  • Lippie – backing vocals
  • Julien Chirol – brass, trombone, flute
  • Lionel Segui – brass, trombone, tuba
  • Misha Cliquennois – brass, trumpet, horn
  • Mamané Thiam – percussion
  • Denis Teste – keyboards
  • Saturn – backing vocals
  • Deep Cotton – backing vocals
  • Janelle Monáe – backing vocals
  • Thomas Moulin – recording
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering