Lafawndah’s The Fifth Season arrives a year on from her stunning debut album Ancestor Boy. Inspired by N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy of novels, its six tracks are deep, elemental torch songs recalling artists like Scott Walker and serpentwithfeet. As well as Lafawndah’s own songs, The Fifth Season also features versions of cult keyboard fantasist Beverly Glenn Copeland’s “Don’t Despair” and French composer Lili Boulanger’s “Old Buddhist Prayer”; there’s also “You, at the End”, which interpolates Kae Tempest’s poem “The Woman the Boy Became”, and “Le Malentendu”, which features French rap artist Lala &ce.
Elsewhere this week, Jockstrap’s Wicked City EP gets reinterpreted as Beavercore, while Zora Jones delivers some high octane thrills on Ten Billion Angels. Take a listen below.
