Although its extraordinary music does plenty of the talking, it’s worth mentioning ‘Weirdo’ and its creator’s equally-extraordinary background. A neurodivergent woman born into a working class family in Yorkshire (a rare jazz origin story); Emma-Jean Thackray has grown into one of the UK’s most interesting and accomplished nu jazz auteurs. In 2023, she suffered the unimaginably-awful sudden loss of her partner. ‘Weirdo’, which she wrote, arranged, performed and produced entirely alone in her flat, is an attempt to process this trauma.
This all sounds like a weighty concoction, however, one of ‘Weirdo’s most immediately obvious qualities is its collection of relentlessly light-on-its-feet and funky music. Thackray has put together an even more impressive genre-blend than on her previous full-length (2021’s brilliant ‘Yellow’), traversing jazz, hip-hop, p-funk, house and psych rock. However, while this 19 track epic boasts a bright and colourful musical palette, its extremely vulnerable and often startlingly sad lyrics create a fascinating dichotomy, one that imbues ‘Weirdo’ with deep emotional resonance.
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A glance at its track titles tells the story of the album’s emotional state. ‘Wanna Die’, ‘What Is The Point’, ‘Save Me’; all titles that reflect the numbness of a depressed mind. Atop a sparse drum machine beat and sunny keys, ‘Staring At The Wall’ sees Thackray detail being “consumed with the thought of you”, trying to take it “one day at a time”, while ‘Let Me Sleep’ details the physical pains of emotional trauma; “my bones ache”, “my legs shake”. However, towards the end of ‘Weirdo’, the likes of ‘It’s Okay’ and ‘Thank You For The Day’ cautiously suggest an album arc that sees Thackray coming to some sort of terms with her grief, with the latter track offering some wonderfully metaphysical observations: “trusting that there is no life and death/for never ending, I say thank you for the day”.
For all its emotional journeying, Thackray’s musical focus remains impressively focused. Despite the various different genres she infuses them with, an airy, roomy lightness pervades these 19 tracks. There’s an eye for the hurricane vibe to them, a determination to achieve lucid clarity so strong it feels as if we’re stood next to Thackray while she’s recording the jazzy piano chords of ‘Tofu’, the shuffling drums of ‘Maybe Nowhere’ and the lush percussion of ‘Remedy’. Lyrical references to domestic objects such as walls and TV’s, as well as the unpredictable passage of time only add to this sense of unreal sparseness.
‘Weirdo’s effervescent funk and pained emotions are a genuinely strange and singular concoction. Its combination of some of the most gorgeous jazz-funk and heart-wrenching lyrics you’ll hear all year means that Thackray’s latest is tough to shake off. There’s light at the end of the tunnel (closer ‘Thank You For The Day’ is properly transcendent), but for the most part, ‘Weirdo’ is as stark, sharply composed and up close to its creator as the photo that adorns its cover.
9/10
Words: Tom Morgan
Related: “I Just Needed To Live My Purpose” Emma-Jean Thackray Interviewed
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Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo – clashmusic.com
