8.4/10
Kenyan-born Turunesh comes from Tanzanian and Ethiopian origins, and she presents her alternative RnB style absorbent of different cultural inspirations to be seen through her unique expressions. Her sound is soulfully captivating as she layers ethereal vocals over mellowly tuned instrumentals. Listening to her music pleasantly resolves the nostalgia of the ‘good-old-days’ that RnB fanatics so fondly crave. She retrieves an emotional elixir from stellar acts like Sade Adu or Erykah Badu, as she creatively stirs authentic melodies that could make one’s eyes sting.
These are the sweet melodies that Turunesh hands us on ‘Nesha’s Cypher’, as she unpacks an obsessive attachment to her lover, blurrily reminiscing tales of love, toxicity, desire and dejection. However, like any complicated romance, there is nuance. And she generously provides this. Her raw, steamy and poetic lyrics are fuzzily layered in velvety vocals over soulful productions. On some songs, slow strings strum warm notes to caress her moods, while on some other songs, drums are working the tempo to release heating tensions.
The first track ‘Tangerine’ takes an intoxicated drive through sensual memory lanes as Turunesh is stuck in this mad jam of sex flashbacks. With elegant crescendos simulating an opera, she is paced by jazz horns on swaying tunes as she weaves a lovelorn ballad peeling back on the affection she has experienced in the past. Song after song, she desires to be rid of it all, but a greater thirst for pleasure mounts and leaves her conflicted. “You fuck me so good, I despise you,” she admits longingly on ‘BackFat’.
Her problems are constituted by an attraction to a man who meets her physical needs and understands her body, making it harder for her to move on. She would do anything to keep him, even when she isn’t sure he is worth keeping. It is the same theme that reappears on ‘Nerfetiti’s Complex’, only with more obsession and craving.
She makes reference to an old toy on ‘Tamagotchi’, a sensational record that sparkles with electric guitars. If you don’t know what a Tamagotchi is, it’s a small egg-shaped gaming device with three buttons that people got around the turn of the 21st century. The game-play involved raising an alien egg by nurturing it with attention until it grows into a happier alien adult. Turunesh’s’ song samples a winy game composition as she metaphorically compares an unrequited love and affection that the device enjoys to the one-sided efforts that she puts into the relationship.
She also blends rock with electronic sounds on ‘Virgin Demin’ as Karun and mau from nowhere hold her hands through an intervention on her naivety and innocence while she contends the consequences of first-love phenomena. “We were only babies in love / So sweet, so sentimental,” she sings.
Her track arrangement reveals an alluvial pile of discontent that has come up to shore. But the oceanic drums pattering on ‘Swahili Sonnets’ breathe Caribbean rhythms into the track as she consoles herself with pleasant recollections. ‘Lonely 808’ is redemptive with an electric string solo and breaking hi-hats. Turunesh vocals are distorted yet she steadily resolves to obtain her assurance and reciprocation.
‘MP4 Playa’ finds Turunesh with more compassion for herself in her reflections as she understands how her feelings of lust keep her in the bondage of this toxic relationship. She also realizes that if she doesn’t free herself, she might get stuck forever. And finally, on the kicks of ‘ControlS!’ she finally comes to accept that the love, sex and feelings may never be the same again.
The lenses that Turunesh hands us on ‘Nesha’s Cypher’ are delicate, and just as we hop on a transcendental rollercoaster ride of emotions, we are relieved as she begins to see past the unhealthy and unfulfilling romantic relationship. Her poetry saliently shines through the tracks from their titles to the lyrics, and she beautifully stretches it over other elements like the immersive production, interpolations, collabs and arrangement.
On this album, Turunesh connects through Nesha – who is the main character – to listeners who are blindly and stupidly in love.
As she goes through her pains, presenting these irrational perspectives as reasons for her desire, she also surfaces the rhetoric of “What was this for? What does all this mean?” in relation to love.
