Greentea Peng

★★★★ Man Made AMF/EMI. CD/DL/LP

Soul-funk psychedelicist’s debut is a dubbed-out early-summer treat.

While her appearance on Later… last year suggested merely another Amy Winehouse acolyte, this debut from Bermondsey polymath Greentea Peng showcases an artist of depth and complexity. From within the dubby heathaze encasing Man Made, Peng ponders the physical and the metaphysical (This Sound), calls for the release of “all my brothers on a weed charge” (Free My People) and, on Party Hard, argues emphatically that all within earshot should “eat some fuckin’ ’shrooms!”. Such exhortations are soundtracked by languid funk that occasionally stumbles into trip-hop autopilot but is mostly electrified by Peng’s restless inspiration, from wiring Nah It Ain’t The Same with offbeat piano and bristling drum’n’bass breaks, to saturating Maya with delirious Ernie Isley-esque guitar licks. Her fusion of Erykah Badu’s maverick mysticism with Sade’s poised eroticism, meanwhile, conjures a forthright and self-possessed voice we’re sure to hear more of.