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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Kae Tempest's new album The Line Is a Curve is their most open, vulnerable and beautiful yet.
1mo
90
They mix the personal, the political, and the everyday in such a way that other artists seldom manage, and The Line is a Curve is a continuation of that trend.
1mo
90
More aesthetically modern and approachable than some of their other records, though no less potent, this is Kae Tempest at their best.
1mo
80
Conceptually looser than its predecessors, its preoccupations with resilience, acceptance and surrender sing through Tempest's soul-mining, secret-bearing wordplay, revealing a more intimate dimension to this incisive chronicler of beleaguered times.
2mo
80
Rife with feelings of ephemeral isolation and deep personal anxieties, they have realised a new wave of modern storytelling.
1mo
80
More personal, warmer and musically evolved, it represents an important milestone in their career.
1mo
80
The songwriter and poet's fourth record is a direct and dazzling step forward, and provides a shining example of the power in emotional exploration.
1mo
80
The Line Is a Curve is the joyful sound of an artist reaching their highest potential, on their own terms.
1mo
80
With fourth studio album ‘The Line Is A Curve’, Kae explores the complexities of life and love with a fresh finesse.
1mo
80
There is a lot to unpack on “this thing”.
1mo
80
Deeply compelling work from the UK's premier spoken word artist.
1mo
80
Dealing with themes of love and isolation, Tempest’s genre-blending fourth album is their most grounded project to date.
1mo
80
Every corner, every nook of Tempest’s reflections on their life’s prospective trajectory is a self-affirmation, not necessarily out of satisfaction, but out of trust that everyday life has more to offer than middling routine.
78
In relinquishing the role of preacher, Tempest has opened up an introspective path, lined with implicit narratives – it is for the listener to draw them out.
1mo
70
What ‘The Line Is A Curve’ teaches us is that Tempest is still capable of tremendous feats of lyricism and dynamic storytelling; if its inconsistency feels a little frustrating at times, it’s perhaps testament to the flow that bound together previous records with such success.
1mo
70
The London-based literary polymath’s fourth album fuses spoken-word poetry with skeletal production, painting a picture of contemporary UK culture in imagistic, intricately wrought verse.
1mo
UK artist Kae Tempest returns with a fusion of emotionally palpable poetry and electronically tinged hip-hop production courtesy of Dan Carey. I resent calling this a spoken word album since the poems are sometimes performed melodically and somewhat on-beat; it doesn't sound much different than when rappers intentionally rap slightly off-beat. The cherry on the top is that Lianne La Havas, Kevin Abstract and Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten all kill their features.
Favourite Tracks: ... read more
not sure why this currently has such a low user score - it’s top quality Tempest
I first heard Kate on 'Let Them Eat Chaos' that I played non-stop. Since then, nothing has matched the best on that album. I have found more here that I enjoy than her previous album though. There is more 'music' here than the aforementioned album that at times didn't have a lot behind her vocals. Between a 3.5 and a 3 outta 5.
Best Tracks: Priority Boredom, Salt Coast, Water in the Rain, More Pressure, Grace
While sonically and lyrically impressive, each track does seem to drag a bit in turn
Standouts: No Prizes, More Pressure, Salt Coast, These Are the Days
Dropouts: Move, Grace
An enjoyable listen but not sure how much I would come back to this in the future. Definitely a super interesting album and stands out because of how unique the flow and lyricism is. I actually enjoy the monotone sort of spoken vocals quite a bit as it's something I haven't heard a ton. I love how they took elements of spoken word and combined it with genre's that you would never think could go with poetical lyrics. I just found myself getting a bit irritated with the flow at parts, but just a ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Priority Boredom 2:45 | 74 |
| 2 | I Saw Light 3:03 feat. Grian Chatten | 75 |
| 3 | Nothing to Prove 3:26 | 72 |
| 4 | No Prizes 4:16 feat. Lianne La Havas | 81 |
| 5 | Salt Coast 5:53 | 74 |
| 6 | Don't You Ever 3:03 | 70 |
| 7 | These Are the Days 4:01 | 73 |
| 8 | Smoking 4:19 feat. Confucius MC | 71 |
| 9 | Water in the Rain 3:53 feat. ãssia | 73 |
| 10 | Move 2:24 | 74 |
| 11 | More Pressure 3:14 feat. Kevin Abstract | 84 |
| 12 | Grace 4:32 | 70 |
Total Length: 44 minutes
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1mo
even when the telegraph are nominally pretending to tolerate trans people they gotta get that deadname in there, just the absolute worst
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Added on: January 10, 2022