RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope
Raye aims high — and reaches even higher.
The South London-born singer-songwriter has been steadily gaining popularity over the past few years; she broke new ground last year with the viral single “Where Is My Husband!”, which was her highest-charting song to date. Now, on the heels of that song’s success, her sophomore LP, This Music May Contain Hope, arrives on March 27th via Human Re Sources. The album is a notable step up in every artistic facet from Raye, and features several moments of profoundly impressive musicianship from the singer and her many collaborators.
One of the album’s most interesting traits can be observed immediately on its opener, “Intro: Girl Under The Grey Cloud” – the storytelling, conversational style of the record. At several points, Raye steps in to narrate and give context for certain tracks — and this, along with the purposely theatrical, dramatic elements in places, makes the album feel like a musical in the best possible way; like a larger, more all-encapsulating experience.
This feeling is also helped tremendously by the stunning production and instrumentation that This Music May Contain Hope has to offer. The many musicians involved all come together in spectacular fashion to make every track feel like a major event. The cinematic instrumentation spans far beyond just the feature from iconic film score composer Hans Zimmer on “Click Clack Symphony”; it also tremendously elevates highlights like the de-facto first track, “I Will Overcome”, which is probably the strongest on the entire album, or “I Know You’re Hurting”. The overall composition of the tracks is of standout quality, too – a lot of the music feels truly timeless. There’s plenty of influences from across the genre spectrum, from jazz and soul to hip-hop and electronic music. “I Hate The Way I Look Today”, another of the major highlights on the project, is probably the jazziest song on the record, and is immediately preceded by “Life Boat” – a pulsing, synthy interlude-like track; this contrast doesn’t feel at all unnatural, and just adds welcome diversity and variety to the record.
If this album is a show, however, then Raye herself is unquestionably the main star, and what truly makes everything come together in as special a way as it does. She brings boundless charm and charisma to every track, and never fails in delivering powerful, sincere vocals. Her lyricism throughout the album is also top-notch – the aforementioned open, casually confessional style works very well with the record’s recurring themes of overcoming hardships, dealing with yearning, valuing your friends and all the non-romantic kinds of love in your life, and more. She is an incredibly compelling narrator and protagonist in this story.
Overall, This Music May Contain Hope is all that its title promises and more — there’s plenty of discussion of strife and worries, but ultimately, it’s a fundamentally optimistic, life-affirming project, with a really strong sense of love and solidarity throughout. All throughout the tracklist, there is stunning orchestral production, interesting, diverse genre blending, as well as magnetic, powerhouse vocal performances and genuine, vulnerable writing from Raye herself. It’s an album that captivates, inspires and impresses the listener from beginning to end, and one that makes you want to return to it again and again, just to relive this experience.
8.6/10
