Album Review: Tei-Shi Asks You To Enter The “Crawl Space” Of Your Relationships
I have found that the difference between eclectic and electric is not much. There is something attractive and mesmerizing about someone who decides to go outside the box because most of us do not dare. It could be why many never enter the path of self-discovery; it involves going outside boxes or into a spiritual crawl- space. Tei Shi’s debut album, Crawl-Space, is a response/reaction to the tension of looking within, and makes the artist’s debut as electric as it is eclectic.
Tei Shi – How Far
How Far
Listening to Tei Shi’s Crawl-Space is not a smooth ride, which is exactly what looking within is like. Instrumentally, she can go from the low, creeping synths of “Como Si” to the more bombastic, machinated feel of “Keep Running”. There is a combustibility to her arrangements that can make songs such as “Your World” and “Lift Me” feel like a two for one deal. As if she decided to write a new song mid-way of doing one, and then said I’ll keep them together instead. What I like about this is that it represents what thinking is actually like. You have to earn clarity. Where is the human being that has a clear stream of thoughts without any random interruption or insecurity? Tei Shi is NOT singing to that human being. Instead, she goes for the seduction, satisfaction, and stress that chaos can be when you are a person simply trying to figure things out with both your partner and your personal path. I know that seduction and satisfaction are not the most associative terms with “chaos”, but the reason people say misery is good company is because, even though it is not happiness, it is always there for you and that is satisfying. Tei Shi ponders upon that “satisfaction” in tracks “How Far” and “Crawl”, where like most of us she is in the midst of a relationship feels like it has been on an eternal end. For two people that should not be, they sincerely act like they are meant to be, and we have all tried to create romantic destiny out of a dud. Yet, Tei Shi is one of the few that can make it out of beautiful music.
Tei Shi – Keep Running
Keep Running
I’ve already marveled at this album instrumentally because it truly is like a sonic fairytale. Its R&B-pop rhythms come off like beating emotions that have been planned in the same fashion a writer would organize the plot-lines of her novel. She’ll do a hypnotic coo such as, in “Sleepy”, to show how music can wrap you in the same way love can: completely. Yet, going along with her lyrcial/ sentimental penchant for nuance; you have to wonder whether getting wrapped in a love is good, bad, or both. Moreover, vocally, Tei- Shi is smart to play into the course of her rhythms; never over-powering them. She has a voice that uses its range strategically. I have said that, in concert Tei Shi, aims for whimsical and self-reflective in style, which are the two words I would use to show how she plays with her voice. It is as if the crawl-space that is her mind and soul tussles between safe and harmful, which is natural. Sometimes, the things that most stabilize us or give us comfort are also the things inhibiting our growth, like our relationships with others and ourselves. For More Information On Tei Shi and To Buy Crawl-Space on March 31 Click Here.
