Emma-Jean Thackray – ‘Weirdo’

With her first album – the immense 14-track Yellow – South London multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter Emma-Jean Thackray marked the emergence of The New Wave Of British Jazz in 2021, one of the most interesting movements of the last few decades. After her first album effortlessly landed in the top 10 of our end-of-year list, the follow-up, Weirdo, is (finally) here after four years.

Weirdo is another exuberant, 19-track album that showcases even more facets of her musical sensibility. The tracks dive from jazz to soul, p-funk, broken beats, afrobeat, hip hop and electronica and, just like on Yellow, sound equally inspired, energetic and idiosyncratic. Remarkably, the entire album was written, recorded, mixed and produced in her own home in South London.

It’s safe to say that she took her time, even though she was touring for a while for Yellow. During the two years following its release, the album was discovered by more and more people and her performances continued to draw full houses. Sadly her partner also passed away unexpectedly in January last year and so she lost interest in things for a while.

Weirdo is a revelation. Just like when you first listen to Yellow, this album also flies in all directions musically, but all the songs fall into place after several listens. It’s clear that this album has everything to amaze you, make you dance and keep you constantly surprised for years to come.

From the ‘weird’ opening Something Wrong with Your Mind, which segues beautifully into the strong title track, another unique jazz album is revealed. Thackray knows her jazz classics, but just as easily as on her previous album, she connects with everything that has happened in the cool British jazz scene, small or slightly larger, over the last three decades. It’s these elements that make Thackray’s songs so incredibly thought-provoking.

She also has a great ear for arrangements. She is on top of everything so she gets the most out of every song, and the double/harmony vocals make each song that much better. The fact that Thackray lets some tracks groove in a funky/house style with a lot of soul (Save Me, What Is the Point) also makes Weirdo so enjoyable.

She continues in a punky vein with Maybe Nowhere, dives deep into funk with the amazing Black Hole, freaks out ingeniously in Tofu, impresses alongside Kassa Overall in It’s Okay and grooves hard on Remedy. Not to mention the earlier brilliant tracks Stay as well as the wonderfully beautiful Let Me Sleep.

Where’d You Go is also beautiful, undoubtedly about her deceased partner, to which the pushing Wanna Die (where she really does sing ‘I Don’t’ beforehand) acts as the response. Thank You For the Day, the album’s closing track, forms the positive attitude with which we dance into the future.

Weirdo is a worthy successor to the strong debut Yellow. The long wait for Weirdo has been richly rewarded, and Thackray proves once again that she is a wonderfully talented musician who continues to boost British jazz.

(*) This is an English version of the original Dutch review which Dick Hovenga wrote for Written in Music – LINK

from https://ukjazznews.com