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FEATURE MUSIC

SMITH'S SOPHOMORE SOARS

I f Falling or Flying is “like [her] brain”, as Jorja Smith says, then the singer-songwriter’s internal experience is a jungle of dynamic and turbid beauty, where crisp beats mingle with simmering oases of melody – you can

and supple harmonies; Smith conjures cobra-lithe melodies out of textured hip-hop on the phenomenal gospel love song Greatest Gift ; and Go Go Go comes closest to pop, with

an excellent singalong chorus, while keeping its toes away from any glassy commercial sheen. Smith has a voice like a willow: massive and mighty, but with a delicate flexibility. “I could be falling or flying, I wouldn’t know the difference,” she sings on the album's title

practically smell the dripping frangipani. As Smith moves through this collection of soul-bitten R’n’B, her forebearers are present – Hill and Badu peek from behind lush fronds – but her authority is totally her own.

Falling or Flying by Jorja Smith is out Sep 29 via FAMM.

Opener Try Me begins with twinkling percussion before the entry of a bass hook as commanding as a queen, and the Greek chorus of male back ups elevates Smith to Cleopatra command; the minimal Too Many Times reverberates with the ghosts of strings

track. The lyric suggests a lack of direction, but once you sink below this record’s canopy you’ll realise Smith is both falling and flying; when she flies she soars, and when she falls it's into the arms of a god-given talent which will see her go down as one of the greats. ZKR

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