On their sophomore LP, the French-Cuban sisters return with a collection of sublime songs about resistance and resilience with a globalist slant
Ibeyi/ Ash
Made up of twin sisters Lisa-Kainde Diaz and Naomi Diaz, Ibeyi emerged on the music scene in 2015 with their genre-blurring self-titled debut album dedicated to their father, the Buena Vista Social Club's percussionist Miguel "Angá" Diaz, and their older sister, both who have passed away. On that album, the Paris-based pair blended their family's beliefs in Afro-Cuban religion Regla de Ocha (In West African Yoruba culture, Ibeyi means the divine spirit existing between twins) with components of jazz, world music, hip hop and electronic-soul, resulting in one of the most sonically riveting records to have come out that year.
As the tumultuous year comes to a close, the sisters are back to save all of us with a follow-up, Ash. As the title suggests, it acts as a continuation, or rather an aftermath to their debut. The deaths of their family members having now become a residue, they're now looking inside themselves, focusing on their own journey and experiences as black women in today's world and Trump's America.
Ash starts off with I Carried This For Years, an interlude-like opener featuring an unnerving sample of Dragan I Slavei by Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares. Lead single Away Away finds the Diaz siblings delivering a rousing ode to the passing of time and living in the moment ("Time is running/Though I'm young/Through my window/I see the day falling … I feel the pain, feel the pain/But I'm alive, I'm alive").
Deathless, on the other hand, details Lisa's encounter with a French police officer who racially profiled her when she was 16 because he assumed she was a drug dealer. "He said, he said/You're not clean/You might deal/All the same with that skin," she sings in her jazz-inflicted voice before defiantly asserting "Whatever happens, whatever happened/We are deathless!" alongside Kamasi Washington's sax flourishes.
Featuring speeches by Michelle Obama ("The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls"), No Man Is Big Enough For My Arms continues the message of resilience and resistance in the form of a powerful feminist anthem in the same vein as Beyonce's Flawless (featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie).
The pop-oriented I Wanna Be Like You provides us with a glimpse of Lisa and Naomi's sisterly relationship. "Look at you now/So wild and free/Watching you move/Why can't that be me?" sings Lisa as she aspires to be more like her twin sister. "I'm often down, often down/I often cry, often cry/The only thing I know/I wanna be like you, child." Vale slows things down with hypnotic Yoruba chants, while Waves comes across sounding not unlike an elegiac hymn as Naomi revisits the water theme ("Water under the ground/I am water under the ground").
As the album nears its end, we're treated to the vibrant moments of Spanish-language Me Voy (featuring Mala Rodriguez) and percussion-driven When Will I Learn (featuring Chilly Gonzales) as well as the more contemplative tones of Numband, the closing title track.
If Ibeyi's debut was a tribute to their deceased father and sister, Ash delivers a poignant message of civil resistance and hope, coupled with the all-embracing styles and influences that defy today's political climate.
Inspired and fully formed, this is an essential listening experience you.
THE PLAYLIST
MGMT/ Little Dark Age
Music, like fashion, gets recycled all the time. Indie psych-rock duo MGMT knows this all too well as we witness their latest (ironic?) transformation into goths on Little Dark Age, their first new single in four years. Here, frontman Andrew Van Wyngarden touches upon the subject of depression ("The feelings start to rot … When you get out of bed/Don't end up stranded/Horrified with each stone/On the stage/My little dark age"). As far as the production goes, it's leaning more towards the dark-hued Congratulations with an added layer of wonky, psychedelic synths, rather than the vivid sonic palette of Oracular Spectacular.
Taylor Swift/ Gorgeous
As the release of Taylor Swift's sixth studio outing Reputation looms, we're treated to its latest offering, Gorgeous, the third single following the somewhat divisive Look What You Made Me Do and Ready For It. With Gorgeous, she's dialling back to simpler times, delivering straightforward drum loop and pop melodies. "You're so gorgeous/I can't say anything to your face/'Cause look at your face/And I'm so furious/At you for making me feel this way/But what can I say?/You're gorgeous," she sings in the chorus, channelling a bit of Carly Rae Jepsen in the process.
Tennis/ I Miss That Feeling
Husband-wife indie-pop duo Tennis continues to treat us to their brand of retro soft-rock with I Miss That Feeling, the second single off their forthcoming EP, We Can Die Happy. The track finds Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley in their endearingly melancholy mood, collectively serving up a slice of convincing '70s pop. "Every little thing I've ever known/And all of the love I've ever show/Something like pleasure you'd never believe in/Every little thing starts trembling/Recorded by the needle of an EKG," Moore intones, her voice wrapped in a hazy guitar backdrop.
Nick Murphy/ Medication
Having ditched his moniker Chet Faker last year, Australian singer-songwriter Nick Murphy is now reinventing himself as, well, himself. Medication, a follow-up to previous cuts Fear Less and I'm Ready, offers another glimpse of who he is as an artist. Instead of sleek, soul-inflected R&B, he's given us something with a more experimental, harsher edge. "I'm the medication/And you could be the patient/I'll set the regulation/Avoid the complication," he explosively asserts over wobbling bassline. This is a stylistic shift of which we wholeheartedly approve.
Fever Ray/ To The Moon And Back
For the uninitiated, Fever Ray is a solo project of Swedish songstress Karin Dreijer Andersson, who some of you may recognise from the now defunct electro-pop duo The Knife. After 2009's self-titled debut, Andersson returns with To The Moon And Back, the first Fever Ray cut in eight years. "Hey, remember me? I've been busy working like crazy," she coos playfully alongside throbbing synths. "I know you like tangerine/And your kiss is sweet and creamy." It's all cute and innocent until we get to the punchline, which is guaranteed to make a grown man blush.
