JP4

As Junglepussy, New York rapper/vocalist/creative force Shayna McHayle has made records centered around her witty personality and a willingness to experiment with production. Her first mixtape and two studio albums were full of brazen (and often hilarious) lyrical barbs about sex and society that paired nicely with layered, funky instrumentals. JP4 finds Junglepussy further expanding her creative view by pushing the production to extremes while her subject matter looks deeper inward. JP4 swings on a wide pendulum between hard, hooky pop moments and outlandishly daring production choices, occasionally in the same song. The pop-friendly sections of the album can take the form of the burning groove and catchy chorus of What You Want or the hypnotically eerie Spiders, where ethereal vocals shift quickly into demonic pitch-shifted singing and a menacing trip-hop beat. The psychedelic R&B trap blast Main Attraction finds Junglepussy firing off in several directions at once with a delicately sung hook and relentlessly tough rap flows. This is one of the more direct moments of introspection on JP4, with lyrics about preferring a quiet, laid-back romantic partner and a solitary, healthy lifestyle over partying and socially overextending. The beautiful Arugula is made up of a chopped jazz sample, recalling the granular lo-fi production many were introduced to on Earl Sweatshirts Some Rap Songs, as Junglepussy laments an absent lover with painful honesty. The next track, Stamina, jerks back to hyperconfidence and blushingly vulgar sex rhymes, offering a quick counterbalance to the vulnerability that was just on display. Perhaps the most adventurous moment of JP4 comes with Out My Window, a light and flowing R&B tune led by dreamy electric piano and sweet vocal harmonies. As soon as the verse begins, however, the entire song slows down in pitch and speed, rendering Junglepussys vocals several steps lower as she raps. The song speeds back up when the chorus repeats, and changes speed multiple times again before ending. This risky production move should be disorienting and unpleasant, but somehow it works in the larger blueprint of JP4s fearless construction. Each of the ten tracks has its own distinctive approach, but even the most dissonant and chaotic tracks gel with the more straightforward material into a cohesive whole. Wildly daring but meticulously controlled, Junglepussy reaches new ground with both the sonic architecture and emotional weight of JP4. ~ Fred Thomas