Alt-R&B singer-songwriter and producer ELIZA has released her most fiercely human record yet – “The Darkening Green” – featuring the new single ‘Pleasure Boy’.
This is the North London native’s first new body of work in four years. Co-written and co-produced by ELIZA with Phairo and EMIL (Loyle Carner, Sampha); the nine-track collection expands her earthy R&B soundscape and explores the complexity of being human in a hardening modern culture.
ELIZA said: “This album explores themes of concrete, capitalism, greed, connection through the smoke, the inevitability of nature, rejecting attempts to order nature and separate ourselves from it, praying for my own presence, lovingly protesting, healthy boundaries, admiration for the brave, commitment to serve the original spark of love, cosmic wonder and never forgetting to make love and party.”
‘Pleasure Boy’ – the tantalising new single – is the album’s most sensually attentive track, with ELIZA’s honeyed vocals melting into the undulating disco rhythm. The alchemy of her music heroes Prince and D’Angelo feel the strongest here. “‘Cause when my eyes fall on your body I feel high… are you coming to your senses or to mine?”
Each single leading up to “The Darkening Green” laid a connective tissue to the album’s core, which reflects our connection to each other and to ourselves. The themes and velvety delivery quickly resonated with listeners, earning support from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, Reprezent, CLASH, Rolling Stone UK and Wonderland.
The tender ‘Anyone Else’ is the first real love song ELIZA has ever written, opening a new chapter in music with fuzzy guitars and a soulful falsetto that feel instantly grounding and homely. ‘Cheddar’, the follow-up, is a biting confrontation of an exploitative working relationship. It serves as a reminder to protect our energy and not be hardened by hurt. “You won’t make me bitter… roses blooming now with extra thorns,” she sings over a vintage funk drum beat and urgent bass line.
One of the album’s richer compositions is ‘Major’. Here ELIZA’s mesmerising vocals glide through a meditative beat, accompanied by the bansuri (Indian flute), which is performed by the Hindustani classical musician Hasheel. The song was written for a friend, softly urging them to break the cycle of self-sabotage and to truly understand how ‘major’ they already are, without all the noise.
It has been eight years since the platinum-selling singer-songwriter ditched “Eliza Doolittle” and the major label system to carve her own lane as an independent R&B artist. In that time, she’s released two albums – “A Real Romantic” (2018) and “A Sky Without Stars” (2022) – and, after the birth of her son last year, became a mother. The themes on “The Darkening Green” feels less like a transformation but a deepening of ELIZA’s artistic vision, merging the seductive empowerment of “A Real Romantic” with the socially-conscious lyricism on “A Sky Without Stars”, and finding glimmers of hope under the weight of it all.
“Part of the reason we’re having issues within our communities, friendships, relationships and ourselves, even, is because of the environment and the world we’ve created,” ELIZA explains of the connection between her inner and outer world on the record.
‘Fever Dreams’ blends alt-R&B with a 70s psychedelic rock feel for a song about burnout in the city life of concrete and speed. “Give them your sweat, give them your blood, give them your head, with all your heart, what are you getting for it? This can’t be the reason we’re here.”
The call to embrace life becomes more urgent as we near the album’s end. ‘Spiral’ was inspired by Greta Thunberg, drawing from a fierceness that refuses to go numb while the world is burning. “We spiral through space on a miracle, while killing ourselves for a pocket full, forgetting that life is our only love, and all of this time isn’t gonna last”, she sings over a broken beat and staccato guitar chords.
Fittingly the album’s penultimate track ends with a sample from the late Buddhist teacher, Dr Larry Ward. “There is a peace and there is a joy that pain cannot take away,” he says over twinkling keys as ‘Because We Can’ comes to a close. Throughout the chaos, the uncertainty, the forces beyond our control and the suffering we can still choose to love through the fight and leave a legacy of love for our children.
