Some artists create such unique style and forms of world interpretation that they transport themselves to a different dimension: a world full of creativity, where the only rule is defying every rule. TESHA, an Israeli born and raised now based in Brooklyn, is one of those artists who live in that world and she let us entering it for a while.
After a buzzy debut EP Dreams vol.1 she presented herself as a singer-songwriter and producer, creating a dark-pop, somehow magical and fantastic melodies, hardly compared with other acts. Just like the name of the album mentions, she sings about her dreams and past experiences and the result was a complex and introspective record, sometimes electronic and sometimes folky. That’s also the moto for her second EP, the one we’re presenting you here: Growing Pain II is more than the following studio record, is a more mature version of a person who’s always looking for different silhouettes of our reality. After the loss of her two parents, making music became TESHA’s therapy and her feelings and emotions are highly noticeable in each and every song of this record.
It is so intrinsic that the opening song is Funeral, probably the darkest song of the compilation. The instrumental is mostly based on a smooth compass by a drum and a bass riff, mixed with deep electronic elements trying to mesmerize us. The song rhythm seems to direct us to her world and as we enter it we go deeper and deeper almost hypnotized by her looped vocals.
I Can’t Sleep works almost as a sequence of Funeral, but TESHA sings now with some profound auto-tune instead of her previous falsetto. The rhythm accelerates but the vocals seem to slow down the time. The song is restless an unpredictable like every of her songs, is like a beautiful nightmare. The songs are all so different from each other and at the same time they work perfectly as a continuing story. So Wonder comes perfectly after and it sounds precisely like a rendition of a bad dream, the deep breath after waking up anxious. TESHA is inviting us again to her world and this is the most ethereal and dreamy song of the EP. Also, the lyrics can’t be more intimate; she offers no resistance in accepting the fate and it turns out to be a beautiful and emotional ballad.
She goes and explores new sonorities and See So Good presents completely different for all the rest. Is more soulful and jazzy, the instrumental reminds her youth influences and it all sounds more pure and raw. She shows herself vulnerable, performing with nothing but her voice and strings, this track is like a plot twist for the rest of the album: the following songs are now more elevating and dreamy, nevertheless TESHA always gives her dark identity whether with her falsetto or with some electronic variations. Just like happens in Shape Of The Window, another ballad that shyly wants to see the blue sky. The melody is strangely more bright and colorful, and even its dynamic is more pop-ish.
It seems that the travel around TESHA’s fantastic world has passed through all the feelings and emotions that a relationship with ourselves can have, it is a learning of how to deal with pain and the sense of loss in 6 stages and culminates with the perfect explanation of it: Soft And Smooth But Not Silent. 2:21 minutes of “silent” vocals but with a comforting and hopeful melody. The trip comes to an end but TESHA, aka Neta, leaves the door slightly open so we can all get in for a while every now and then. This is a spiritualizing lesson with a gorgeous soundtrack that will definitely heal us anytime we need. And we hope it does you to.
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