THEESatisfaction - awE naturalE

The balance between swagger and approachability is one of the hardest to strike in all of popular music, but with their succinct debut LP, THEESatisfaction spend half an hour stridently walking the tightrope (hips shaking, ass grinding). It's all in the title: awE naturalE – a record which is in one sense overawing with its effortless channelling of old-school soul, funk and jazz, delivered with the sort of you-can't-touch-this sexual confidence rarely synonymous with overtly gay acts. But then that's checked by the title's other word, speaking to the naturalness, the sincerity and the humbleness of the record which oozes out of every word, inviting you to share in the confidence it exudes.

Take verses like “take a rest from life and learn a lesson, you're born with blessings, I'm just suggesting that you respect the talents that you do have, or go out and learn a skill” - a sentiment as practical as it is comforting, delivered without reservation or a scrap of condescension. This is an irony-drained exercise in putting the soul (and heart) back into traditionalist black music, the focus squarely on inclusion, empowerment, and slinky grooves.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it's the duo themselves, and the effortlessly un-fakable chemistry of their vocal interplay, which sells this record so effectively. At a brief running time of around thirty minutes, nothing much on offer sticks around for more than two minutes or so, conventional structures often being skewed in favour of the two voices following their own whims, shaping the course of these tracks in their own way. Their interplay goes beyond typical tricks like the call and response and soft harmonies littered throughout each song – tracks like the incredible one-and-a-half-minute album highlight 'Bitch' propel themselves forward with the two voices instinctively synchronised with each other's idiosyncrasies, filling in each other's silences, giving each other emphasises, peeling back from each other for effect. Throughout the album, the two voices weave in and out of each other, blending melody and rap (and making room for guest vocalists) into a silky blend you just can't teach, paradoxically sounding completely individualised and wholly indivisible.

The vocal performance is enough to make you suspect that awE naturalE could've been equally arresting as an a capella record, but the high standard of production to the backdrops makes you glad that it's not. Often building themselves on a minimalistic bass lick and hand claps, or a piano chiming between two minor chords, the beats and claustrophobic textures are nuanced enough to be invigorating, but simple enough keep the  focus on the vocal work. Truthfully, the textures generally work best at their most laid back, and their most stripped back. The shapelessness and noise of closer 'naturalE' sees the album fade out on a disappointingly damp note, and the self-consciously please-remix-me pandering to early cut 'QueenS' are both relative low points on a record which finds itself at its strongest when it just lets two voices interact without distraction.

But thankfully, the voices always remain the central focus, and when the music occasionally loses its way, the eccentricities and confidence of the duo are always on hand to course correct. As they say on 'QueenS', “leave your face at the door, turn off your swag, and check your bag”. There's no room for unsubstantiated boastfulness here, nor needless affectations. Instead, this is an refreshingly well-prioritised funk and soul record about natural connections – connections forged between two vocalists above smoky soundscapes, and the equally important connections forged between record and listener.