LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Breaks are privileges awarded veteran acts, most often an effect of long-lasting relevancy. The opposite is also true: New acts are rarely given permission to take a beat, or risk slipping into obscurity. The horrible irony is that deadlines have never been muses for great art. The alternative is, of course, to say screw it all and work on your own timeline, likely as an independent artist.
That's something knows well.
Five years ago, released her debut LP, 鈥淟ost & Found,鈥� defining an era of R&B-pop-trip-hop. Or simply British soul, depending on who you ask 鈥� or which country you ask it in. Now she's released 鈥淔alling or Flying," an eclectic sophomore release built from the pieces of her past and present.
For it, Smith relocated to her hometown of Walsall, in the West Midlands of the U.K., from London working largely with the local production duo DameDame(asterisk). The grounding effects are immediate. These 16 tracks meander, but they never feel lost. Her revered ballads have a home here, like on 鈥淏roken is the man" and the slow burn 鈥淲hat if my heart beats faster?鈥� (The latter will surely reprise early comparisons for Smith's rich, brassy tone. There are worse things to be compared to.)
In 2021, Smith dropped a short EP, 鈥淏e Right Back,鈥� to keep the loyalists satiated. At the time, she described it as a 鈥渨aiting room鈥� for this record that would inevitably follow. It certainly served that purpose.
On 鈥淔alling or Flying,鈥� surprises abound, from the Bombay Bicycle Club and the Kooks-inspired English-indie track 鈥淕o Go Go鈥� to the glossy, soulful title track 鈥淔alling or Flying.鈥� Then there are the pop-punk riffs filtered through , like on 鈥淭oo many times," with echoes on 鈥淏ackwards," before the string orchestral coda.
Collaborations are few and pointed: British rapper J Hus on 鈥淔eelings鈥� and Jamaican reggae singer Lila Ik茅 on 鈥淕reatest Gift,鈥� as well as a choir. Here, as before, as in every Jorja Smith record, even stripped-down production soars, like an R&B Radiohead, but it is her voice that enraptures.
Five years is a long time between a debut and sophomore release. "I like this world that I鈥檝e just come into. And I鈥檓 still figuring things out. Always figuring things out,鈥� Smith said of releasing new music in the current era. 鈥淭his is the first time I鈥檓 putting stuff out there that I can connect with right now.鈥� The outcome is transcendent.
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
