Leila - U&I

Leila’s fourth album is akin to being trapped inside the mind of someone who’s turning ever so slightly deranged. At times meditative and spiritual (the spectral, hymnal ‘In Consideration’ and the mournful title track), at others dark and lugubrious (the disturbing noise of ‘Interlance’ and the epileptic ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’), ‘U&I’ - a collaboration with Berlin-based DJ Mt. Sims - flits between cognisance and insanity, euphoria and emotional breakdown across forty-five minutes of shape-shifting beats, loops, samples and disembodied vocal stylings. Intense and claustrophobic, it’s a surprisingly revelatory record that captures the highs and lows of human experience and existence.

8/10

Words by MISCHA PEARLMAN