H&e Naturist February 2014

Textura Raindamage is an album best appreciated on headphones, when youve got the time to really let it seep into your brain. Titled H e (a) r the album features 7 world premiere recordings, including a soundscape which lends its title to the album by the groups artistic director; composer and violinist Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir. The work H e (a) r connects to ecology, acoustics and embodiment; drawing on encounters and what happens in the connection.

With H.E.R., the singer and multi-instrumentalist of the same name, who declines to show her face or confirm her identity, has reconfigured the whole of her output into one long-playing album: Vol. 1 and 2 are here, along with six previously unreleased tracks. H.E.R. is soulful and soul-baring R&B, with immaculate songwriting and soothing melodies. A delicate cover of Drake's "Jungle" wrings hope from defeat, but the lush arrangement of "Rather Be" reveals a penchant for the power ballad. Daniel Caesar has the album’s lone guest spot (“Best Part”), and, together with H.E.R., they deliver a duet in the image of Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s timeless “Nothing Even Matters.”