No.7 – Little Simz – Stillness In Wonderland
Little Simz is a super talented
wordsmith, storyteller and vocalist, delivering a razor sharp, spoken word
drawl, as she takes us on a journey through her wonderland. With extensive
reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland throughout Stillness,
a foreboding, grime infused Cheshire Cat pops up at regular intervals to
comment on Simz’s thoughts, addressing her by her real name Simbi, to offer
guidance, “trust in your intuition” he
advises at one point. All that is contemporary has a foot planted in the past
and musically this album, as well as referencing grime and soul, touches on
psychedelia and jazz. You soon come to realise that Little Simz’s wonderland
doesn’t have the same means of escape as Alice’s. Hers is a wonderland that is
not actually full of many positive excitements at all. There are fleeting
moments of light, as seen in Shotgun,
with Syd from The Internet lending
her vocals but Little Simz is worn down by the end of the album and she throws
in the towel on the final track, No More
Wonderland, with the words “it’s not
real it’s a figment of my imagination…and therefore, I’m out.” She isn’t
getting away that easy. Count me in.
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