One Track Mind

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If you’re a music geek, you may have indulged in the pastime of playing the mating game with different artists, trying to anticipate what their sonic spawn might sound like. If you tossed Lily Allen, The Streets, and Midnight Marauders era A Tribe Called Quest into the magical musical blender, I’m pretty sure you would wind up with a tall, satisfying glass of Speech Debelle. The South London hip-hop artist is gearing up to release Speech Therapy, her debut album, on August 18th on the revered Big Dada label.

Although the record has guest spots from some likely (Roots Manuva) and surprising (Micachu, members of Tunng) visitors, the star of the show is clearly Debelle herself. In addition to having one of the best Christian names an emcee could hope for, her slinky vocal grooves have earned Speech a spot on the short list for this year’s Mercury Prize–arguably the most prestigious music award presented to acts from the United Kingdom. Perhaps you’ve heard of some of the previous winners: Suede, Pulp, Primal Scream, Portishead, Franz Ferdinand, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons… yeah, thought so.

Some vibrating, plucked bass notes kick off “The Key,” which sets Debelle’s half sung, half rapped vocals against a flowery, jazzy soundscape. The interplay between the Dixieland instrumentation and her distinctly British, slightly Jamaican-inflected vocals is deeply pleasing, the whole song sparkling as though snowed upon by some gentle pixie dust. “The Key” never asserts itself too forcefully but is instead a quiet kind of revelation, nearly dainty as it skips along down a path of its own invention.

Speech Debelle writes the type of hip-hop you want to play for people who supposedly don’t like the genre, as it is both emblematic and unique. It’s fresh, too–if you’ll pardon the double meaning–both in terms of being hip and clever, but also in the sense that it really doesn’t sound like much else out there today. “The Key” is charming, innovative, and intelligent, sure. But most importantly: it’s a great listen.