SKINNY PELEMBE レコード& CD

Review: Skinny Pelembe (real name Douglas Beardmore) has always been a hard artist to pin down: a South Africa-born, Doncaster-raised singer, rapper, guitarist and producer whose music seems to exist in its own sonic space. That much was clear from his 2019 debut album on Brownswood, Dreaming is Dead Now, and is even more obvious on this hotly awaited follow-up for Partisan. Hardly The Same Snake is a riveting and highly entertaining listen, with Beardmore alternately singing and (more occasionally) rapping over gorgeous, immaculately executed backing tracks that variously mix and match elements of classic 60s pop, hip-hop, broken beat, traditional South African musical styles, future R&B, synth-pop, gospel and psychedelic dream pop.