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Séhkou, the interdisciplinary poet and recording artist, has just opened a new era with "Irreverent Beauty (2 Cor. 12:9)." A highlight from the current Solus project, this song seems to offer little more than a peek into the artist's personal trajectory and journey of self-discovery, but for those with enough insight not to take one line too literally.
The track is carried by a gritty, soulful instrumental that serves as both a canvas and a confidante for Séhkou's intimate spoken word. There's a comforting familiarity to the music, but it never settles into a groove, every note feels deliberately placed, in service of a confessional cadence of live performance. The way the voice intertwines with the instruments creates an immersive environment that's as meditative as emotionally affecting.
"Irreverent Beauty (2 Cor. 12:9)" is not just a song, it's a ceremony. Describing himself as an ordinary knockabout knotted with historical and contemporary faults, imperfections, bad habits, and shared sorrows, Séhkou, through the lens of self-examination, pulls listeners into a realm that is at once confessional and widespread human experience. The spiritual current running through the work intensifies its emotional impact, and you feel as if this is a healing ritual set to music.
For followers of the Solus project, this release is a tremendous deepening of Séhkou's craft, a point at which music, poetry, and personal testimony become so closely interwoven that the distinctions virtually dissolve. It's a song that begs for repeated plays, each one peeling back new layers of feeling and understanding. Amid a cacophony, Séhkou's latest release is a fragile yet towering monument to the potency of authentic expression.
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