Album reviews: Cynthia Erivo | Little Simz | Finn Wolfhard | Azamiah

Little Simz: Lotus (AWAL) ★★★★

Finn Wolfhard: Happy Birthday (AWAL) ★★★

Azamiah: Two Lands (Floating World Records) ★★★★

Musical theatre superstar Cynthia Erivo may not have won the Oscar for her acclaimed depiction of Elphaba in Wicked but she’s got her Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards to keep her warm at night. She also has an urge to express herself which can only be met through songwriting. Her second album I Forgive You is a lengthy suite detailing the journey from heartbreak to renewal and acceptance, all of which she renders in a similar sonic palette of silken vocals, soothing ululation, undulating piano, manicured rock guitar and cooing vocal effects.

It’s relentlessly tasteful stuff, sometimes restrained and understated yet oddly self-indulgent. There are shades of Emeli Sandé in her classy soul pop approach and a touch of the Beyoncés to R&B ballad Push and Pull (also featuring a low-energy rap). Erivo can undoubtedly command vocal firepower but she plays it close to her chest even when singing of emotional turmoil on More Than Twice or combing over the embers of a relationship on Save Me From You.

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Later, she tests out some watery gospel on Holy Refrain, while Be Okay layers up a cappella vocoder harmonies. The title track takes it further into pop classical chorale territory and Replay makes interesting use of voice as rhythmic instrument. But anyone hankering for some musical theatre belting will have to be satisfied with the tasteful vocal acrobatics on the soaring You First and Brick by Brick, which is about as close as Erivo comes to power balladry.

Mercury Prize-winning rapper and Top Boy star Little Simz is also experimenting with her vocals in the laidback and airy setting of her sixth album. Lotus is a social gathering as much as an introspective affair with exquisite contributions from guests including her London peers Michael Kiwanuka, Sampha and rapper Wretch 32, plus South African artist Moonchild Sanelly and Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano.

Simz sounds initially soft but insistent on Thief, but a latent anger erupts with stridency over atmospheric twanging guitar backing. She maintains a whispery flow on Flood, accompanied by the patter of tom drums, while she satirises a privileged trustafarian character on Young before unleashing a punky chorus in the impish style of The Streets.

The dreamy string fantasia of Hollow leads straight into the lean Afrofunk of Lion. Kiwanuka adds his usual classy conscious soul touch to the sumptuous title track and, best of all, Simz leans into the fun and freaky spirit of The Slits on the chiming reggae funk groove of Enough.

Only as the album draws to a close does she lay bare the extent of her insecurities with such spiritual soul that it is hard to credit she was seriously considering ditching music for acting before she made this excellent record.

In a good week for actor/singers, Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard releases his debut solo album. At 22, he is already a veteran of two bands, Calpurnia and The Aubreys, but such was his prolific flow throughout 2022 that he needed an additional home for his plaintive lo-fi pop songs. Happy Birthday, produced in raw DIY style by Kai Slater of teen punk trio Lifeguard, is forged in the off-kilter indie tradition of Wolfhard’s countrymen, Pavement, The Flaming Lips and Daniel Johnston.

Glasgow jazz quartet Azamiah conceived this EP follow-up to debut album In Places in rural Suffolk before recording in Gorbals Sound with frontwoman India Blue also producing. Two Lands glides through the dreamy soul jazz of My Lonely Heart and rapturous quiet storm Let Dust Settle to arrive at Pressure Point, a nu-soul odyssey distinguished by Alex Palmer’s lithe drumming and Blue’s Minnie Ripertonesque whistle tones.

CLASSICAL

Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets, Vol 2 (Harmonia Mundi) ★★★★

It was clear from Vol 1 (Nos 1-5) of the Cuarteto Casals’ unfolding survey of all 15 Shostakovich String Quartets, that ensuing releases by the Spanish ensemble would be worth snapping up. Vol 2 brings us the five (Nos 8-12) written in the years following Stalin’s death, marked by the easing of political censorship of composers; also, in Shostakovich’s case, a rollercoaster of personal highs and lows. Thus the sharply varied personae of these works: the simple buoyant charm of the Sixth and melancholic reflections of the Seventh; the harrowing, self-quoting introspection of the Eighth; and onwards through the newfound expressive challenges of the Ninth and Tenth, the aphoristic concision of the Eleventh to the symphonic expansiveness of the Twelfth. These performances are a generous and sincere response, matching intimacy with fire, intense sadness with ecstatic joy, loving serenity with vicious irony. Indeed, the very contradictions that define Shostakovich.

FOLK

Freya Rae: Divergence (Mere Cat Records) ★★★★

This Creative Scotland-funded project aims apparently to promote the use of non-traditional instruments in traditional-style music. Nothing too radical, however: Freya Rae plays silver Boehm system flute and clarinet as well as the more usual folk whistle, accompanied by Siannie Moodie on clarsach and electronic effects and percussionist Tim Lane. There’s a persuasive freshness to their seven tracks, going for crispness and lightness rather than breakneck speed. In Alderbank, for instance, stealthy harp and percussion introduce whistle and guest fiddle (Eryn Rae) before breaking into nimble jig time, while in the stately Willow the flute sings with the dip and swoop of an Irish air, against atmospheric backdrop of glistening harp and shushing cymbals. Myrtle opens gently before morphing into crisp reel time that enlists harp and burbling electronica, while Aye Yew lopes along with Fraser Fifield’s soprano sax adding lithe reediness to a perky woodwind melody. Jim Gilchrist

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