With classically trained vocals, storytelling swagger and a knack for melodic invention, Lost & Found serves as both introduction and foundation.
This is not a first album that sounds like a first album; it is a first album that sounds like it came from an artist who has been doing this for years and years, an artist who already has award shows and headlining tours in her rear view mirror. As such, it's hard to keep from seeing those things in Jorja Smith's future. Lost & Found is a revelation.
Comprising a brisk but dense 12 songs (including four previously released tracks and several others Smith has teased live), Lost & Found is the biggest test to date of Smith’s commitment to making music on her own terms. The result is a bold statement of artistic purpose.
A powerful tool for repairing a broken heart and indicative of an even brighter future, Lost & Found is satisfying and promising at once.
Ebbing and flowing with daydreams and a glossy but gritty pulse, Lost & Found is quietly, confidently remarkable.
On her debut album, the singer ... resists the urge to call in favours from her high-profile friends. Instead, she wisely sticks to the creative path started on her 2016 debut EP, Project 11, which is what got her noticed in the first place.
As a whole, Lost & Found finds Jorja Smith making a name for herself with presence and poise. Throughout these 12 songs, she commands a mastery of various styles, with enough experiments to flesh out a varied, captivating album.
Lost & Found occasionally feels like more of a collection than a full album; it’s a compilation of music she’s been performing for years and contains previously released songs going back to when she was 16. But it barely matters.
Jorja Smith’s debut resonates with the sounds of Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill; Smith isn’t afraid to fill songs with bare emotion as she writes melodies about love, racism and her life’s path.
Her voice is silky yet barbed with solemnity, rendering her profound heartbreak and joy palpable to the listener. It's a potent tool for storytelling that's present during every moment, both golden and dull, of her debut album, Lost & Found.
#10 | / | Complex UK |
#12 | / | Clash |
#13 | / | BLARE |
#19 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#25 | / | Crack Magazine |
#40 | / | ABC News |
#40 | / | PopMatters |
#88 | / | Fopp |
/ | GQ |