Upper Reality
Upper Reality
Reviewed by Kahron Spearman, Fri., Dec. 1, 2017
On her best project to date, Cape Town, South Africa, producer/vocalist Jessica Taylor follows up 2016's Silver with a confident, consolidating, eponymous EP that firms up her brand of modern electro-soul. Evident throughout, the University of Texas graduate elevates the efficiency of her vocals and songwriting, while also showing off innate comprehension of placement, the "when" and "where" of singing. Even then, the real story lies in the cosmic flourishes in her ascendant self-production, featured on the album's lush standout, "When the Sun Goes Down." The sociopolitical "Turtle Island" hits squarely at the heart of matters concerning Taylor's worldview and existence. She allows space for Canadian indigenous/First Nations activist Jocelyn Wabano-Iahtail to speak naked truth about "524 years" of North American white supremacy over a soulful, trap-inflected gumbo of swirling guitars and synths: "You haven't changed because you haven't started your healing journeys."
