Although T-Ache was initially hesitant to undertake a sound he appropriately assumed was a fad, snap music clearly suited his model—a sugary, Auto-Tune-drenched trill that appeared like Megatron singing freakishly candy love songs. Once more, on the album’s second single, “Bartender,” synths gleaming like starlight, he recounts an evening out with the brevity of a blues singer, parroting his personal traces: “Broke up with my lady final evening/So I went to the membership.” So flawlessly does Akon harmonize with T-Ache on the hook that it’s simple to neglect he sings the third verse (many DJs seemingly lower the track off earlier than then), taking part in a sober wingman requesting T-Ache’s permission to bounce with a brand new buddy.
In singing concerning the euphoria and delirium of nightlife, T-Ache nods to his Tallahassee roots on the early album lower “Church,” a countrified struggle track crammed with banjos and handclaps, and “Present U How,” which feels just like the soundtrack to a rodeo or reward dance. He deploys his rap alter ego, Teddy Penderazdoun, to pursue the scarlet-letter lady on the town, taking part in off the ho-into-a-housewife trope, annoyingly. But it surely’s additionally… candy? “Inform ’em kiss yo ass/’Trigger on the finish of the day, you bought a spot to/Lay down and let me lay with you,” he sings. All a part of his life’s work. His rap personas (the opposite one on the album is Teddy Verseti) exist primarily to point out his versatility, and he’s entertaining and infrequently dexterous as a lyricist however a lot better at bellowing candy nothings than powerful speak.
The occasion vibe in T-Ache’s music is usually thick to the purpose of overshadowing the enjoyable. The darker aspect of his debauchery is “Tipsy,” the place the temper feels coercive, to say the least: “I knew you wouldn’t be the freak that you’re except you tipsy,” he sings (in a Juvenile-esque decrease register), proving that the booze-and-a-good-time goal has an outer restrict. As T-Ache explains it, although, he celebrates so much as a result of consuming and merriment really feel genuinely restorative, and that’s the way in which of the South. “I feel folks relate to my songs extra as a result of I’m not making an attempt to be overly intelligent. It’s kinda simply regular dialog,” he informed NPR in 2014. “It’s simply, ‘Hear. Right here’s the state of affairs. Right here’s a melody to it. You prefer it? You don’t? Right here it’s.’”
Epiphany is stuffed with odd surprises. “Time Machine” is a delightfully bizarre sci-fi ballad by which T-Ache portrays a robotic named Tebunon Pedalophagis from Planet Teleguston, singing like a tragic Iron Large about returning to easier occasions earlier than his profession took off: “Illudium PU-36 explosive house modulator/Goin’ on a visit, I’ll be again/Homeboy, I’ll so long,” he laments, permitting himself to dream, Auto-Tune on the zero-est setting. (Planet Teleguston begs for a visible therapy.) The observe is, in fact, shortly adopted by a sensual homage to Pilates-toned abs, “Yo Abdomen,” the form of absurd T-Ache track you’ll be able to in all probability hear earlier than truly listening to it. There, and on pleasure-seeking information like “69” (no guessing what that’s about) and “Put It Down,” his vocal texture is each easy and gritty, like a pitcher of lemonade with sugar grains on the backside.