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60. Everybody Down - Kate Tempest (2014)

Hip Hop

It’s hard to avoid hyperbole when describing Kate Tempest’s work. It conjures phrases like “singular talent” and “essential listening” all while showcasing a command of the English language almost never witnessed in modern music. But as Ms. Tempest would be sure to tell you herself, she’s a writer first and a musician second, so it’s hardly surprising that 2014’s Everybody Down functions as a cohesive exercise in storytelling more than anything else. 

The album relates the story of Becky, a young British woman struggling to juggle two jobs to cover exorbitant rent prices, while coping with loneliness and the ineptitude of her efforts to allay that loneliness. The skill with which Tempest verbally paints the settings and conversations between the primary characters is astonishing; she puts you right there with them for awkward family dinners, relationship rifts and seedy interactions in back alleys and dive bars. The imagery is so intricately detailed and the emotions of the characters so precisely pinpointed that you would hardly need to “see” the scenes at all to feel them just the same. 

Although songwriting chops of this caliber would be more than enough, Tempest goes several steps farther, executing a perfectly calibrated delivery which gives the picture rhythm and panache. In essence, it’s everything that slam poetry is supposed to be, but almost never achieves - and it’s set to a well-conceived score that complements the vivid imagery perfectly, adding highlights and shadows to accentuate the elaborate set. Properly lauded by many as a generational talent, Kate Tempest has an undeniable gift and she’s managed to carve out a space in which to present it that’s entirely her own. 

*image; cover art for the album Everybody Down by the artist Kate Tempest