Jorja Smith’s performance at the recent Radio 1 Big Weekend shebang is really worth tracking down if you want a lesson in high functioning nonchalance. Dressed down in denim, performing with only a DJ as backing, she gave very little in the way of gesture or pizazz, ran through mostly short snippets of her songs – and yet held the essentially pop crowd of thousands in the palm of her hand. From a lesser talent it wouldn’t have worked, but the vital thing here was that Smith was working with the tools of deep rooted Black London music. This was a soundsystem set, showcasing classic party sounds like UK garage and funky house along with the more brooding R&B and soul she’s most known for, cut together with a well-honed understanding of the dynamics of a dancefloor.
And that’s what you get on her fifth album. The overriding sound of What Are the Odds is house music tempo electronic grooves with deep soundsystem bass, with various elements of the Black Atlantic diaspora – America, West and Southern Africa, the Caribbean – neatly woven in in the same way they are to DJs’ evolving sets, with Smith delivering her songs with the minimum of flamboyance but absolutely locked into the backing and with a fundamental knowledge of what works. In this format the 29 year old shares narratives of growing up, love, loss, the pace and scale of city life and so forth in a way that really sneaks up on you.
Her voice throughout is velvet smooth, super controlled, with an occaisonal crack to it that – like so many British soul singers – echoes Amy Winehouse’s deep blues, and if you’re immersed opens up the digital grooves into very human feelings. The consistency of the aesthetic is very special and as an album it feels like you’re inside a beautifully put together modern London movie – but if there’s one fault it’s exactly that consistency. When the tempo drops for the duet with Nigerian megastar Wizkid on “Alive” it feels like a narrative shift, but it’s not a dramatic one. This album is a brilliant piece of world-building, a great showcase of a talent who’s completely, confidently herself, and it does keep you engaged like her nonchalant performance does. But it’s definitely an arthouse movie, and should be appreciated as such.
Listen to "I Lied, You Lied":
