The term “future R&B” loses some of its new-fangled resonance now that everyone and their Garageband-proficient dog is at it. After the similarly inclined Jack Garratt, Mura Masa, Dua Lipa and Mabel, Nao, whose voice appeared on Disclosure’s Caracal, affirms her place as the most emotionally textured of this modern-pop wave. The Londoner’s debut, featuring funk enigma AK Paul and a series of voice memos, combines the honeyed with the industrial, her contorted grooves veering between Dam Funk’s scratchy sonics and Stevie Wonder’s spiritual soul. The chilly, distant production qualities this genre often possesses are replaced by a more fidgety, intimate approach: instruments sound organic, and her insecurities crushingly vivid (on Girlfriend she begs for affection as a woman unable to accept herself, singing, “If I was your girlfriend, could you love for two?”). Its weakness is in its 18-track odyssey; an elaborate route around an otherwise enchanting album.
