The Line Is A Curve

Product Information

Tempest has a predilection for myth (in 2013, they released Brand New Ancients, a contemporary retelling of the tale of Tiresias), and their writing often argues for the importance of storytelling itself. Being more honest with the world and my community about who I am and letting go of some heavy heavy shame, which is a glorious thing. I Saw Light is an outstanding track, with its intimate feel creating an impression of Tempest and Chatten facing each other in an unfurnished room, lit only by a dim, bare bulb.

That’s what allows the voices to take centre stage and when it comes to Tempest’s work, the words really matter.It is the first time they have leaned on so many influences, allowing themselves to put something out that isn’t tied as closely to ‘concept’ in the way that all of the other albums have been.

Products shown, tagged or featured on YouTube by creators are sold by merchants and are subject to merchant's terms and conditions. It is like a confessional as they communicate via a distinctive form of rap poetry that only they understand. Here, they interact superbly with the soft Irish burr of the first of several collaborators on The Line Is A Curve, Fontaines D.For everything I’ve said about new influences and more musical variety on this album, ‘Salt Coast’ is here to remind us that Kae is a poet at heart – it’s a lyrical masterclass, an inspiring story, an incredible moment of truth, another time when Kae chooses to tell us to try our best and accept when things go wrong. It chronicles the afflictions of everyday life and the pressure to overcome them—from the violent desire to dissolve into limerence (“Don’t You Ever”) to breaking patterns of generational trauma (“Smoking”)—and ultimately counsels that we make peace with our daily adversities.

The musicality becomes more expansive as the lyrical horizon broadens and we glimpse coastlines, high streets, scrap yards, train stations in the rain; the entire album begins to let go. Elsewhere, on “Priority Boredom,” where each verse is dedicated to its own vowel sound, the monotony of individualism is cleverly represented with congested “or” sounds: “Priority boredom/Gorging/Four courses/Forced absorption,” they spit, the words like slushy fruit in their mouth. Online since 2010 it is one of the fastest-growing and most respected music-related publications on the net. The core of the record is that the pressures we face do not always have to be heavy burdens, but can be reframed; the more pressure a person is under, the greater the possibility for release.While on the majority of their previous releases Kae was the sole performer on most songs, across this latest work they don’t only bring in big name guests but they also let them have starring roles and take some of the key moments on the album. But once we get to the end of Grace, and the album, we loop back to the start – to ‘Kiss off the day with a mute mouth. For me, the album is about increasing resilience and raising your threshold for tolerance and acceptance. The theatrical ebbs and flows of their vocals on Salt Coast acutely capture the timely themes of “sleeve-pulling nervousness” caused by everything from Covid to micro-aggressions.

Evidence that this increased self-belief has seeped into their music can be found in the presence of the guests on A Line Is A Curve. Even when the beats enter to accompany Confucius’ rap halfway through, they don’t detract from the core because we are already engaged. On every album they release there is at least one song that towers above everything else and makes itself the centrepiece and this time it is the hypnotic, mesmerising, and beautiful ‘Salt Coast. Still, when Tempest decelerates the flow on No Prizes, the suspense and intensity fade away, leaving the track feeling a little empty. It’s a daily operation to increase your resilience, cultivate a deeper acceptance, let go of what’s chasing you and lean in to the pressures.

As lyrics that focus on making the most of what you have today, a key Tempest tenet, the sounds of French horn, cornet, and tuba create an increasingly claustrophobic cacophony that puts me in mind of a dark room, couples holding hands at candlelit tables, men in fedoras, women in ball gowns. If you’ve ever wondered what Kae Tempest would sound like if they’d been a performer in a 1920s jazz bar, then you should have a listen to ‘These Are The Days’, the song that kicks off the second half of their latest album The Line Is A Curve.