MAHALIA レコード& CD

Review: Today, what does it mean to form relationships and love each other, IRL? That's exactly what British singer-songwriter Mahalia's latest album attempts to answer, having been inspired by a traumatic breakup and period in therapy. Broader in style than her earlier work, one might read cognitive dissonance, double-consciousness, or a post-breakup divided selfhood into this album; whether that's reflected in the tick-box conditionality of spectacular relationships on the track 'Terms And Conditions', or the inevitable consequences of this in the r&b-swangy 'Cheat' or the critical reconciliation of 'Hey Stranger'. Smooth but shaded throughout, this is the sound of Mahalia working through her demons and restructuring her idea of what real love is.