Thackray, Emma-Jean: Yellow (CD)

Bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Emma-Jean Thackray was born and raised in Yorkshire but is today a resident of Catford, south-east London. Her 2020 EPs Um Yang 음 양 and Rain Dance marked Thackray out as standard-bearer of a spiritually-minded, dancefloor-angled take on jazz that stood at a slight remove from the broader UK scene.

Across its 49 minutes, Yellow draws glowing lines between '70s jazz fusion and P-funk, the cosmic invocations of Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane, and the gorgeous orchestration of the Beach Boys. 'I wanted the whole thing to sound like a psychedelic trip', explains Thackray. 'You put on the first track, it takes you through this intense experience for almost an hour, and then you emerge on the other side transformed'.

The result is an album that speaks the language of positivity, as rich lyrically as it is musically. You might best understand what Thackray does through reference to auteur figures like Brian Wilson or Madlib, who straddle instrumentation, arrangement and production in order to bring the sound in their head to fruition.

1. Mercury
2. Say Something
3. About That
4. Venus
5. Green Funk
6. Third Eye
7. May There Be Peace
8. Sun
9. Golden Green
10. Spectre
11. Rahu & Ketu
12. Yellow
13. Our People
14. Mercury (In Retrograde)