When SPIN named Kaleidoscope Dream — the sophomore effort from PBR&B prince Miguel — the fifth best album of 2012, we praised the LP’s “singular vision” as “one man’s dream, absent of guest verses and Big Afrojacked Beats, presenting a personal, idiosyncratic search for the meaning of the word ‘soul.'” Recently, the Alt R&B star honed that search even further when he showed up at NPR Music’s offices to croon through an entry in All Songs Considered’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” series.
To kick off the 13-minute set, the debonair singer’s pillow-soft vocals glide over an acoustic guitar for the pharmaceutical-favoring “Do You…” before nestling into slick call-to-arms “The Thrill.” A surprisingly cheerful Miguel closes things out with “Adorn,” a song he describes as “life-changing” (we called it our No. 6 song of 2012). The Kaleidoscope-opening come-on still sends shivers, even without all the smoke and bass throbs. It’s tempting to use the word “effortless” to describe the performance, but that would betray Miguel’s hard-walked journey from fitted hat club creeper to fedora-donning seducer.
