Emma-Jean Thackray – Yellow

Emma-Jean Thackray is a woman on a mission. The diverse UK jazz composer, producer, performer and DJ refuses to be confined to one creative box and recently signed to Warner Chappell, who described Thackray as a “prodigy” in the jazz scene. Her 2020 standout single Movementt may not feature on her debut full-length, but its dancefloor-angled take on jazz provides the perfect gateway to the spiritual depths that Yellow swims in with love and curiosity. 

At Yellow’s core is a celebration of human experience. 'Brighter days are coming' is the mantra on Sun that resonates with our joint necessity for togetherness given the pandemic, while the spoken-word passage of listening, knowing and loving cuts through with candour in album opener Mercury.

Among its transcendental messages though lies the album’s core qualities: its musical compositions. Brass and strings, choral segments and ecstatic chants meld together joyously with elements of 70s jazz fusion, psychedelia, P-Funk and Alice Coltrane-esque spirituality to culminate in a sound that pushes the UK jazz scene’s renaissance of late to even greater possibilities.

Yellow brims with kindness and connection through its musical messages, reminding us refreshingly of what it is to be a human among humans.

Listen to: Say Something, Venus