The way a harp precipitates, pirouettes, and then settles is its own remarkable quality. On her latest record, Brandee Younger hems funk, hip-hop, and R&B using the harp’s body as a needle and its strings as thread. The instrument’s versatile ambition keeps escapism at bay in favour of deeper musical affinities. Accordingly, the shifts in compositional tone feel like gentle drifts on a flight path and not the acute turns its tracklist might suppose. There’s a breeze in Younger’s manner, but it is the fragrant sweep of a city evening – precise and seductive. ‘Brand New Life’ is a well-mapped argument for the healing qualities of melody.
25/30
A favourite: ‘Running Game’
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