Sitek not actually involved, lest we or Kindness confuse you…

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[5.50]

Brad Shoup: The balance is screwy; Ade and Kelela are in the middle distance, and the brass plays like vocals. This is practically a disco tone poem, strutting in place. But it’s nice to hear a little horn interplay, rather than a single sax meme.
[6]

Anthony Easton: It’s interesting that the break that introduces Kelela is so explicit, it completely bifurcates the rest of the track. 
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: A note to Dave Sitek’s garbage-ass production that slathered Kelis in coffee shop dregs: THESE ARE FUCKING HORNS, NOT YOUR SHITTY VSTS. GO BACK TO PROPPING UP SCARJO YOU MUG, I’LL BREAK YOUR NERD GLASSES. Now to the matter at hand, it’s cool to hear this bit of Fela-tinged pop-funk crawling through the overgrowth of production. Also great is hearing Kelela not being subjected to the terrible productions of the Night Slugs Colonialist Grime Parasite Pig Hipsters and being allowed to flourish as a singer in a more natural environment. But yeah, the jazz funkishness is so restless and eccentric that occasionally the song feels like it’s starting to get too busy, before settling back into the smoothness and nourishment I haven’t heard in a lot of retro-R&B-flavored work these days. Hopefully, Kindness keep delivering their namesake.
[7]

David Sheffieck: Too laid-back to actually land; the saxophone is the liveliest thing here, and it loops itself into oblivion before the halfway mark. Vocalists of this strength — especially when collaborating — deserve a better class of song.
[5]

Iain Mew: I think I get the deep mystic idea they were going for with “I felt the world restart”, but the word choice unfortunately makes me think more “waiting for my computer to install updates”, something not helped by the song’s drawn out puttering. In this scenario, Kelela’s appearance is the rare welcome newly added feature.
[4]

Alfred Soto: Like listening to an orchestra fanfare without a performance until Kelela enters, pursued by bass guitar flatulence. She’s committed, but Kindness borrows Dave Sitek’s tricks from Kelis’ last record and treats horns like cow udders.
[3]

Patrick St. Michel: It’s clever and timely to have a song celebrating a total new beginning to everything via love in such dim times, but even the best ideas need more than lazy sax to get by. At least let Kelela sing more.
[5]

John Seroff: It’s just difficult for me to get too excited about funky adult contemporary disco. Even with the chaotic percussion breakdown of the song’s last third, even with the silky vocals and the honking afrobeat horns and the driving bassline, even then I can’t help but picture “World Restart” in its inevitable extended life as a Gap commercial. Probably my favorite Gap commercial, but still.
[6]