“It’s sultry with bold lyrics and it’s been on repeat since it dropped”
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS. IMAGE JENNY MCCAMBRIDGE/FLICKR
Kate Tempest is the gift that keeps on giving.
Just last week she announced that her fourth album, The Book Of Traps And Lessons, is coming in June and immediately released the first single – Firesmoke. It’s sultry with bold lyrics, and it’s been on repeat since it dropped.
Tempest is a poet, novelist, playwright and of course, a Brit-Award nominated artist for Best Female Solo Performer.
Since emerging as the winner of the Ted Hughes poetry prize back in 2013, she has redefined what it means to be a wordsmith, never staying in one lane for too long.
Her work explores queer relationships, politics, and the brutality she sees in the gentrification of London.
The in-depth lyrics of Firesmoke are assertive, placed confidently over a minimalistic looped beat, to explore the intimacy of her relationship.
Firesmoke takes on a softer tone compared with the fury filled rhymes of her past albums. It leans towards a jazz-rap style, completely different to anything she has released before.
It seems more in touch with the intimacy displayed in her most recent book of poetry, Running Upon The Wires, released just last September.
With lyrics like, “I listen to her hips, I push my kisses to her lips. We move like we were born to move,” she oozes sensuality and queer confidence.
It is simultaneously gentle and ferocious – as the song suggests relationships can be.
They’re the kind of lyrics you wish someone would write about you; full of tenderness and adoration.
Tempest says of the single, “I think of the song like a cleansing moment in the wider context of the record, in the same way that a relationship can be a cleansing moment in the wider context of life.
“A kind of turning point. I wrote it for my woman. Inspired by her and everything that falling in love with her has taught me.”
If this is just the first single, we’re certain this next album is going to be something special. Give it a listen and prepare to be seduced.
Kate Tempest performs The Book Of Traps And Lessons at Broadway Theatre, Catford on 19 June 2019.
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