Tirzah – Devotion (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Arriving on the back of a lauded run of releases on Greco Roman, Devotion shines a brilliant new light on Tirzah’s unique experimental pop, exquisitely soulful voice and potent contemporary lyricism. Written and produced in collaboration with long-time friend and collaborator Micachu, Devotion’s hallmarks are rooted in a fresh, raw emotion and feeling. The Essex-born performer has been at the centre of the vital post-grime and UK garage sound of London for the better half of a decade but it’s only now that her work has come to full fruition, delivering what feels like a landmark debut LP. Recorded mostly in the shared houses and makeshift studios of her South London crew of artists and friends, all while life – and love – happened in the meantime, Devotion is written and produced with musician, composer and childhood friend, Micachu, and it’s a downbeat excursion into the moody inner life of an unusually talented lyricist. Songs about the complexity and conflict of a very human, very confusing feeling come through in listless lines like “I thought that I would call you but I never could do it,” while a faltering bass line carries it through a tumbledown assemblage of samples and vocal cutups. Track titles like ‘Gladly,’ ‘Guilty’ and ‘Reach’ reveal their emotional tone with a single word, while the deconstructed beats underscore the brittle nature of desire and romance. It is on tracks such as ‘Go Now’ where you can really hear the soul and gospel influences of Tirzah’s surprising inspirations in Al Green, Barry White and D’Angelo. There’s an understatement, though, a vulnerability that is unique to her own songwriting, where a simple four syllables, like “I want your arms,” can speak volumes on loss and longing.

She has been floating in the air for several years but has never taken the time to come back to the ground to engrave in wax all her colorful dreams. It’s a way to remind us that Tirzah isn’t really like any other… Protected by her childhood friend Mica Levy aka Micachu who produces this first album called Devotion, this Brit is a sleeping schemer that slaloms with a lot of sensuality between melancholic R&B, neo trip hop, chloroformed soul, post-grime and experimental pop. Tirzah actually has fun with everything that her voice or her fingers touch. Until then, there were disseminated things, like a few titles with Greco Roman, the label of Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, or some acts of childishness with Levy under the name Taz & Meek, but this Devotion shows the maturity with which she now tackles writing, singing and recording. Some drunk piano notes here, a blurred loop there, bass heavy like marshmallows a bit further, a troubling and changing voice, each title goes into the opposite direction taken by the previous one. In its construction. In its instrumentarium. Tirzah’s heart is viscerally soul but her mind is an endless stylistic maze. Probably one of the most fascinating oddities from 2018. – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:

01. Fine Again
02. Do You Know
03. Gladly
04. Holding On
05. Affection
06. Basic Need
07. Guilty
08. Devotion (feat. Coby Sey)
09. Go Now
10. Say When
11. Reach

Download:

mqs.link_TirzahDev0ti0n20182496.rar

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