ALBUM REVIEW: Seinabo Sey – ‘Pretend’

Seinabo Sey
Seinabo Sey Pretend
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When you think Euro, you think club-ready pop hits that will eventually see themselves on the top of the pop charts. Sweden, to its credit, has produced Euro-pop stars like Robyn and Elliphant, whose music, dare I say, is much better than some of their American counterparts. No one would expect soul and gospel when you think Sweden, but with Pretend by Seinabo Sey, prepare yourselves for a millennial whose influences as American as they are, is as international at it comes.

The daughter of Gambian musician, Maudo Sey, Seinabo’s musical sensibilities definitely lie in soul and gospel. Right from the first track, Sey’s hit from two years ago, Younger, the album relies on strong vocals, piano hooks and strings interjected only by Magnus Lidehäll’s pop music sensibilities. From here, the album is a progression of the musical styles Seinabo marries perfectly – her West African soul and the Swedish pop sound she’s cultivated. There’s power in the vocals on Pretend, with its 80s sound and layering of vocals, hearkening to the time Madonna released such vocally grandiose tracks.

Lidehäll does his best to balance this mix of pop and soul all throughout the album. Take Poetic for example. The emotional content of the song is delivered in a very casual vocalese, backed by piano as most soul tracks go. There’s something jazzy about this track with the vocals, but you know that there’s some slightly overdone yet slick production involved, when you hear the track transform into a radio-friendly pop hit towards the end with just the instrumentation alone. There’s an aggressive tone to Hard Time, but it’s the easy lyrics that make for a good listen. Good old soul, a la Patti LaBelle or Aretha Franklin, comes back on Easy, the piano, drums and choirs unmistakably African yet edited so well, that skipping this track is almost a sin.

Seinabo’s safe attempts at establishing herself as a soul singer take a turn with Words. The West African drum beats match the strings that sync with the lyrics and yet again, some really excellent production is executed on this tracks. Yes, the production is smart, however, the safe lyrics and their delivery show you the depth that Seinabo’s voice can take, with electro-pop beats giving you a break since Younger.

Billie Holiday’s blues come to the fore on Sorry. The simple arrangement to one of the unmissable tracks on the album showcases Seinabo’s strength – her voice. In an industry surrounded by pop starlets who can’t sing live to save themselves, Seinabo’s Sorry is simply beautiful. There is a melancholic tone to the song, but it is amazing. On Who, the African rhythm plays over mismatched lyrics, but works well with Lidehäll’s pop genius saving the track. The vocal breakdown over syncopated beats can sound robotic in the verses, but Seinabo drops the soul in to differentiate the vocal styles as the song veers to a very American sound towards the end like most. Still, with its simplistic production could work in an indie film soundtrack. There’s a subdued cinematic sadness on You, a track picked off Madeleine, her second critically reviewed EP.

There’s something simply fantastic on Ruin. Whether it is the choirs, the instrumentation, the lyrics or the jazzy delivery of them, Ruin shows you what Seinabo does best, good old soul and jazz. On Burial, Seinabo pays tribute to her father Maudo Sey, in true gospel style with the choirs and strings backing her up. The eulogy works well for most parts, although the slight change in the octave towards the end or rather its execution is an obvious miss.

On Pistols At Dawn, there is a macabre sound and depth in the vocal delivery of the song, although on first listen you can’t avoid comparing the track to the production Joel Little had in mind for Lorde’s Pure Heroine. The sound is almost a little too similar, although the vocal delivery is what makes all the difference. River relies on falsetto, only there to show that Seinabo has an impressive range but doing nothing to enhance the album or its impact towards the end.

For a millennial whose inspirations are Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, Seinabo does well to put out work that is impressive on its own. If the UK has Emeli Sandé, then Sweden can boast of Seinabo Sey. What could’ve made this album a little better is a little more depth, but just for the absolute best that this album has it worth it and more. No one is breaking boundaries here, and not everyone needs to, especially if they’ve already done that in EP s before, but if your acoustic rendition of Younger is as good as your original or its remix, then rest assured there’s much in store by this artist in the future, if you’re up for it. The score could’ve been higher, but I’ve given it an 8/10, simply because it left me wanting for more, and that is always a good thing.

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