Rebirth

London duo Farai drop their incendiary debut album, Rebirth via Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada.

Rebirth (a collaborative project between London based vocalist Farai and artist, musician and producer TONE) documents a process of recovery.

Vocalist Farai Bukowski-Bouquet is a commanding presence up front – equal parts M.I.A., Roots Manuva, and Siouxsie Sioux, the Zimbabwean vocalist rages against the machine with fire in her belly. Her diatribes are given all the more power by TONE’s brash instrumentals. Whether he’s serving up motorik krautrock (Love Disease), loping trip hop (Punk Champagne) or stargazing psychedelia (Radiant Child) TONE’s beats serve to keep Rebirth’s energy up across the eleven tracks here.

For Farai, music has always been personal. Born in Zimbabwe and raised in London, her lyrics are coloured by the different cities she’s lived in, and how that series of different homes has shaped her perspective. Rebirth weaves together South East London landmarks, the bare-bones ethos of post-punk, and the experience of being part of the African diaspora.

Farai’s partner in creating Rebirth has been TONE, a producer she’s worked with from the early on. They’ve carved out an alternative vision of pop together, distinctive and many-sided at once, poised between punk directness and flourishes of soulful warmth.

Tracklist

1. Cray Cray
2. Lizzy
3. Puck Champagne (feat. TONE)
4. Social Butterflies
5. Talula
6. This Is England
7. National Gangsters
8. Love Disease
9. Secret Gardens
10. Space Is A Place (feat. Chris Calderwood)
11. Radiant Child