Zsela does things on her own timeline. Her intriguing first EP, Ache of Victory, was released in 2020 after she had been working on the songs for five years. Now it’s taken another four for the singer-songwriter to release her debut album. Part art pop, part R&B, it is a showcase for her remarkable, singular voice: elastic and supernatural, her low contralto fills every corner to stunning effect. Opener “Lily of the Nile”—like Sade from another planet—is a shock to the system that makes you go back again and again for another listen, just to try and figure out how Zsela does what she does. (“Even when I was a kid, people would be, like, ‘You sound old,’” she told the New York Times.) She’s like a specter, contrasting barely-there instrumentation on the chill-inducing “Watersprite.” But “Fire Excape” is all sultry R&B that veers from stark to big washes of synth sounds; “There’s a fire in the ocean,” Zsela sings, lingering on that last syllable as the reverse reverb of splashy high-hat puts an exclamation point on her phrasing. “Not Your Angel” stirs up a quiet storm.
There are pops of intensity, as on super smoky “Moth Dance,” that bring to mind FKA Twigs; indeed, co-producer Daniel Aged has worked with both women, as well as Frank Ocean, and brings an intriguing experimental feel to the proceedings. It’s a playfulness that runs in Zsela’s blood as well. Born Zsela Thompson, she is the daughter of Marc Anthony Thompson—aka Chocolate Genius, who has made great records on his own and as the leader of Chocolate Genius Inc., the collective that has included avant jazz masters Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid, Chris Wood and John Medeski. Ribot is a contributor on Big for You, as are Nick Hakim, Casey MQ and Jasper Marsalis, who makes music as Slauson Malone 1 and is, yes, of that lineage. He co-produces “Easy St.,” which casts Zsela’s spoken word over drifting, almost unmoored guitar that moves at its own pace. There are shades of her dad’s neo-soul background on “Brand New” and “Now Here You Go,” a slip of a song that finds Zsela trying more of a babydoll voice. And while she sounds careful and controlled on “Still Swing”—moody with contemplative guitar—you get the feeling that, if Zsela wanted to, she could pack a wallop. Hopefully we’ll get to hear her try it out sooner than a few years.