Little Simz 3rd record, GREY Area, was my favourite record that I heard last year. She's a charismatic and captivating MC on the mic, and that record had dense and emotional lyrics and awesome, dramatic live instrumentation that commanded your attention. This EP follows that record by heading in a different sonic direction. As a continuation of her 'Drop' EP series, Drop 6 has been written and recorded recently from Simz's home during lockdown. Aside from references to the current world situation in the lyrics, this is reflected in the sound of the instrumentation here. The lush, jazzy and dramatic live instrumentation from GREY Area is replaced with more lowkey and simple beats. There's a dreamy atmosphere to tracks like you should call mum and where's my lighter.
The EP opens with might bang, might not, a track built around a jungle-ish beat with Simz's hardest hitting performance out of the 5 tracks. The track is simple and effective, and I particularly like some of the vocal inflections in Simz's braggadocios performance. you should call mum delves into Simz's reaction to and opinions of the Covid-19 situation and lockdown, and is really expressive and relatable. She details her boredom, desire and struggle to be creative, and her anxiety and worries about the socio-political context of the the entire situation. damn right and wheres my lighter have a dark psychedelic atmosphere to them that makes them feel like a sort of fever dream to compliment the surrealism of the lyrics.
This EP lacks the meticulous attention to detail of GREY Area, and all of the tracks are short and you know exactly what you're getting from them in their opening moments; but the dark, dreamy atmosphere is great and Simz kills it in her performance (as she always does). At 12 minutes, its so short and sweet that its easy to just throw on again straight after its finished playing.
Top Tracks: might bang, might not, damn right, you should call mum, wheres my lighter
7/10
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