Lost & Found

by Jorja Smith

Overview

Within two-and-a-half years of uploading "Blue Lights," Jorja Smith crashed the Top 40 in her native U.K., recorded with and opened for Drake, racked up a bunch of Top Ten U.K. indie singles, appeared on the Black Panther soundtrack, and won the Brit Critics' Choice Award. She also received additional acknowledgments via the MOBO Awards and BBC Music Sound of 2017. These and other developments and accolades increased anticipation for Smith's debut album. With one-third of the independently released Lost & Found previously issued, its arrival is somewhat anticlimactic on first contact, but the known and new material coalesce into an assured and complete debut. Had Smith arrived in the post-new jack swing '90s, her work would have been classified as hip-hop soul, what with the streetwise, wise-beyond-her-years perspective, captivatingly raw emotional content -- with an aching, slightly coarse voice to match -- and favoring of breakbeats and mellow, slightly rugged grooves. Standout "Blue Lights" inevitably reappears with its mournful rumination about the terror of racial (racist) profiling. Other than that cut and "Lifeboats (Freestyle)," on which Smith raps metaphorically about inequality and turning a blind eye to those in need, Lost & Found focuses on romantic pitfalls and impasses. In multiple instances -- the opening title track and following "Teenage Fantasy," two highlights -- she frets about lovers who don't want what she wants, and otherwise regrets wasted time, miscommunication, and dead ends, only rarely looking back with a low degree of fondness. A powerful tool for repairing a broken heart and indicative of an even brighter future, Lost & Found is satisfying and promising at once. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	06/08/2018
Label:	Famm
UPC:	0192562403969
Rank:	27321

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jorja Smith   Primary Artist
Nitin Sawhney   Strings
Anna Phoebe   Violin
David Dyson   Percussion
Michael Stafford   Guitar
Charlie Perry   Bass,Keyboards
Ed Thomas   Bass,Piano
Felix Joseph   Bass,Drums,Synthesizer
Amane Suganami   Piano
Benjamin Totten   Guitar
Femi Koleoso   Drums
Mutale Chashi   Bass
Mike Excell   Drums

Technical Credits

Nitin Sawhney   Arranger,Programming,Orchestration
Guy Bonnet   Composer
Michael Stafford   Composer
Dylan Mills   Composer
Amanda Ghost   Composer
Roland Romanelli   Composer
Antonio Feola   Engineer
Nicholas Detnon   Composer
Michael Uzowuru   Composer,Producer
Peter Meredith   Composer
Charlie Perry   Composer,Producer
Maaike Kito Lebbing   Composer
Jason Pounds   Composer,Producer
Ed Thomas   Composer
J.LBS   Producer
Cadenza   Producer
Joel Compass   Composer,Producer
Sam Wills   Composer
Tom Misch   Composer,Producer
Felix Joseph   Composer,Producer
Riccardo Damian   Engineer
Oliver Rodigan   Composer
Jorja Smith   Composer
Daniel Trachtenberg   Engineer
Jeff Kleinman   Composer,Producer
Engine Earz   Mixing,Mastering,Additional Production
Ben Joyce   Composer
DJ Complexion   Cut
Maaike “KiTo” Ebbing   Vocal Producer,Additional Production