The scintillating second album by Ohio’s LA-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Brittney Parks showcases her innovation across hip hop, R&B, electronica, jazz and beyond with looping ingenuity, improvisation, and sharp feminist, dark lyrics about life as a black woman. Opener Home Maker, an ironic twist on sees her high voice intertwine with beats and her key instrument, the violin. NBPQ (Topless), also a previous Song of the Day here, is a cri de coeur against body shame, shored up with fabulous African rhythms, more violin, beautiful layered vocals and rapping, and contains the album’s title phrase, bares all with “titties out” and “I’m not average” - no kidding. Selfish Soul also has a rousing confidence booster with a fabulous rising riff and sharp rapping while OMG BRITT appears to be full-on sexy “party-ass” R&B but is filled with fascinating musical oddities, from African thumb piano to reversed sounds to sampled hot breaths. This is an album that requires multiple listens to unpack its many ideas and sounds, beauty and intellect, with further highlights including the intricate string plucking on Copycat (Broken Notions) or Milk Me, transitioning cleverly, as all tracks do on this outstanding album into the final tracks Yellow Brick Road and the thrum and African cry of #513, which pertains to the area code of her Cincinnati birth. Smart, sexy and superbly original, the most innovative albums of the year. Out on Stones Throw Records.
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