new music: speech debelle turns pain into power on her mercurial ‘breathe. ep’ #soundcheck

With jazzy beats and a confessional delivery, Speech Debelle is a unique artist. Her music focuses on self-discovery and growth, seeking either to transcend the pain she’s experienced or find strength in it. So it’s fitting the first track off breathe. her first record in years, the determined “Work,” thrives on the hook “I have still got work to do / the work’s not done.” The mournful piano becomes hopeful, while a pulsing hi-hat rides the work into infinity. Throughout the EP the production and the lyrics are in brilliant communication, particularly on the masterfully produced “Terms and Conditions,” whose strings lift up and struggle against the pain of the vocals. The EP closes with the powerful “No War No Peace,” which uses Speech Debelle’s musical alchemy to turn weariness of oppression into strength. This is a quiet album that proclaims itself loudly. So when Speech Debelle declares “The structures are weak, we see the cracks / It’s gonna all come down down,” you know she’s serious.