This eclectic, experimental second LP by the Minneapolis-based Sudanese-American non-binary singer and actor (best known for Sex Education) features Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) on three tracks, and plays with deconstructions of indie, R&B, electronic pop dance, baile funk and Sudanese folk, and is themed around home, identity and difficult relationship in the shadow of climate change and AI’s advancement. Short and snappy but at just over 26 minutes, yet full of variety it chops and changes restlessly and often quirkly in musical style and vocal timbres, and captures a sense of unease, disturbance and change and collapse, technological wires and our Earth as a difficult pairing. As Selah puts it: “While pondering the demise of Earth, I reflected on the ways that people would operate if modern society completely collapsed. Earth runs wild, becoming overgrown with vegetation, reclaiming her power. People must deconstruct their understanding of the old way and use what's left to be present with the Earth. As a Sudanese-American, I often feel as though my world has already begun collapsing as a result of the ongoing conflict in the region. I imagine what it would be like after all have been lost to the war. Mourning is a constant as plains are burned, sacred wildlife is decimated, and indigenous Africans are lost. If my world were to disappear, I would bring it back to life with aspects of home. For me, this means bringing in elements of sound that feel like home."
Opener 5 Days is an emotionally resonant break-up lamenting folk song of stripped back acoustic strums, but after halfway it suddenly erupts into bangs, distorted punk screams and dissonant protest. Breathe is a catchy but mournful synth-pop tune that fuses climate and relationship destruction: “Do you feel me? / 'Cause I'm pretty numb / Met a Māori/ She knew right from wrong/ She's a floater/ Party hops for fun / She was mourning / The horizon's gone.” The three alt-pop songs with Justin Vernon – Flood, the pacy Keep Away and the slower Glow, with each trading lines – all see them pair well with intimate falsetto in a soulful R&B fusion. Flood in particular ponders on technological advancement and the risk of dystopia and destruction. Cállate perkily darts between shuffling beats and a baile-like groove as Saleh’s elastic voice stretches in other directions of feathery coos. Standout Firestorm is a tight funk soul imagining relationship emotional flares after the Los Angeles fires and is backed by the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles. I Do, I Do is based on a Sudanese proverb (“He who mixes poison is bound to lick his fingers”) and fuses soul with gentle plucks on an oud from Malek Vossough. Speed Up ripples with an intricate R&B, Anemic is a sultry number featuring Sudanese singer Gaidaa, and bookending the poetry of the opener, final track All Is Love features Grammy-nominated poet Aja Monet, expressing redemption. “Anyway PTSD made me wanna forget it/ Synesthesia/ Colourful visions of you in my head,” sings Saleh distortedly, before Monet’s spoken poem concludes: “To be loved is to be tended to tenderly / Truthfully floating in the swamp of eyes / Love is an allness, open-ended sky / Bare arms, stenciled dreams/ Skinless and captured by the crevices of reach/ Love is the hollow of/ the heart in the blood/ The arch of feet toward a kiss / The mouth of an ellipsis.” Out on Ghostly International.
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