Chilombo Review

The crystal bowls could have been a wellness gimmick and instead they are the best production decision of her career. Tuned into the harmony, they give every track a low sustained shimmer under the drums, and that hum does what her earlier records tried to do with reverb, only better and with more air. The songs are stronger too. Triggered is a genuine outburst, the first time she has let a vocal get ugly, and it is a relief.

P s. is funny about sex in a way the moody records never allowed. Born Tired and Lightning and Thunder show real range in the arrangements. It remains too long, twenty tracks when fifteen would do, and the spiritual language still occasionally substitutes for a finished thought. But the balance between the calm surface and the anger underneath is finally right, and this is the record of hers most likely to hold up.