The heady mix of styles
Yazmin Lacey
served with
Voice Notes
earned the singer and songwriter a 2023 MOBO nomination for Best Jazz Act.
Ezra Collective
won the award, which
Lacey
evidently took in stride, as she then co-wrote and fronted the quartet's "God Gave Me Feet for Dancing" -- it fast became her most popular song and then an ecstatic highlight of Glastonbury 2025.
didn't perform at the festival -- the former youth worker's role was appropriately filled by a member of North London's Jubilee Youth Club -- but she maintained the celebratory spirit the next night in Paris, where she previewed material from
Teal Dreams
with backing from
BadBadNotGood
. While neither that band nor most of the crew that assisted on
was involved in its making,
is a fluid continuation. Its taut and winding rhythms, produced by compatible figures such as
Miles James
,
Jonny Lattimer
Barry Lister
, and the returning
Melo Zed
, more prominently show
's Caribbean roots. Her alternately introspective and observational writing is a little sharper and wiser, and she's somehow even more confident here than on the debut, her supple and enticing voice always at the fore. The twisting Afrobeat-soul hybrid "Ain't I Good for You" began the rollout with
's rhetorical question posed as emphatically as that of
the Isley Brothers
' "Ain't I Been Good to You," but with shrugging "your loss" sentiment instead of bitterness. Bolder yet,
smacks down a time-sucking "little bitch" on "Two Steps," a highlight built on a light Motorik beat with minimal dressing. Still, the tunes with the Jamaican rhythms stand out most, and the lyrics are as much a factor. The skanking "Wallpaper" contains a chorus that succinctly covers almost every love language. "Love Is Like the Ghetto" rocks steadily with
's philosophy ("The ghetto's unforgiving with no corners to hide/Lift the veil off the ego") punctuated by a
Sade
quote. There's also "Grace [Reflective Dub]," a sumptuous if introspective track produced by
keyboardist
Joe Armon-Jones
. Two of the album's plainer songs are connected and become more moving with each line. In "Ribbons,"
yearns to rekindle a friendship that ended on bad terms, and then on "Water," a more flavorful hip-hop soul ballad, she connects with
Tyson
and conversates with her about the different paths their lives have taken in adulthood. For all the positive self-talk
practices, the singer accounts for her faults in those songs and elsewhere, like when she admits to closing herself off, or expresses apprehension about committing herself to a relationship. "Crutch" finds her at an especially low point, "Clinging on like chewing gum stuck to the sole of my shoe," yet it doesn't stop her from writing the album's most memorable hook. ~ Andy Kellman