- The London newcomer explores experimental, pop and R&B.
- There's a lot happening at the intersection of London-based experimental music, pop and R&B. Greentea Peng, known only as Aria, is one newer artist exploring that zone, though she isn't as experimental as, say, Klein or Coucou Chloe. Working with the production duo Earbuds, who she met while working the bar at the shuttered Dalston nightclub Visions, Peng makes punch-drunk R&B with an old-soul voice and new-school sensibilities. (Even the digital cover artwork is presented as a worn vinyl sleeve.) Somewhere between Erykah Badu and Sudan Archives, her debut EP, Sensi, is granola R&B with a futuristic sheen.
That contrast shows best in "Moonchild," where quivering synth chords rub against chunky beats and scatted vocals. Like most of her songs, it's something of a paean to weed and her own spiritual self-discovery, moving like deep house meets classic broken beat. "Medicine" is another ode to cannabis, this time with a slinky reggaeton beat, while "Mind" floats above a twinkling AM Gold sample like a Madlib ballad. "Mind" is about losing yourself in your own head, something "Loving Kind," the EP's standout, also alludes to, lamenting Aria's inability to focus on herself because of a need to love others. Her lyrics have an easy flow, delivered over traditional beats with an off-kilter touch, a combination that gives her crossover appeal as both an R&B singer and avant-garde artist.
Tracklist01. Greentea Peng
02. Sensi
03. Moonchild
04. Loving Kind
05. Mind
06. Used To
07. Medicine