Music > Album Reviews

Jorja Smith - Lost & Found

30/06/18

Brit Critics Choice Winner Jorja Smith’s debut album is as funky and ethereal as it is innovative and socked full of political urgency. With a voice that puts you in mind of a pop-ier Amy Winehouse, Jorja chronicles the emotional growing pains of adolescence, through first crushes and star-crossed loving down the rocky road to self-acceptance. The first half of the record feels like a wonderfully bittersweet coming-of-age/self-discover/love story from Juliet’s perspective, whilst the second sees a sharp segway towards urgently tackling social injustice and global apathy towards refugees and asylum-seekers.

In the vein of neo-R&B, Jorja meshes hip-hop and trance with rhythm and blues to create a soulful, electro tangle that is both refreshingly new and nostalgically paying homage to her musical icons. As Lost & Found sweeps you up into its folds, her vocals draw parallels with artists such as RY X, FKA Twigs and M.I.A: a list of artists that admittedly read together like a nonsensical vanity plate, but are entirely justified as they, like Jorja, vibrate with haunting, symphonic power.  With tracks Blue Lights and On Your Own, she carries traces of Rhianna’s swagger and Adele’s raw power and at the tender age of 20 brings nothing short of sheer prodigal talent to the game.

There’s the odd flash of corny in the record, such as in Wandering Romance when her celestial voice is undercut by the repetitive sound-effect of a man groaning like he’s dry-heaving. Another annoying snag is the spoken word interjection at the end of February 3rd : “Then I found myself, but then I’m constantly finding myself” which immediately breaks the wonderful, honey-sweet track and turns it into whingy status post. However, the song Lifeboats nails the Kate Tempest arrhythmic furious bounding/halt/accelerando/break/run-on cadences and rhythms, proving her worth as a Jane-of-All-Trades.

With a Kendrick Lamar collab track featured in Black Panther under her belt and a voice that is both gossamer soft and operatically epic, there is little doubt that we can expect some big things from Jorja in the future.

8/10