John Glacier is protecting it low-key. “Satellites”, the primary observe on her debut album Like a Ribbon, opens with distant, watery guitar plucking, quickly accompanied by Glacier’s distinctive cool drawl. The instrumental and Glacier’s voice sound as if they’ve been recorded on a tape a few ft away. It’s this DIY selfmade sound that the London-based mannequin and musician has develop into identified for.

Listening to Like a Ribbon, one can virtually hear Glacier scribbling down traces on a well-worn notepad in her room to stave off boredom. That’s removed from a criticism: Glacier’s lyrics slide alongside in a simple, diaristic stream-of-consciousness. “Marvel the place I’ve been / I’ve been harm, received’t lie,” drawls Glacier within the first moments of her LP, virtually as if she is recording a journal entry to mark her progress within the 4 years since her mixtape, the Vegyn-produced lo-fi SHILOH: Misplaced For Phrases.

It is perhaps a stretch to name Like a Ribbon a extra mature work: Glacier has at all times had a smart and reducing confidence that reads like a seasoned lyricist. A debut document is an announcement. It’s not only a assortment of songs, however an artist’s manifesto: a milestone and a promise of the artist’s future. In Like a Ribbon, John Glacier proves she is right here to remain, however she nonetheless has a lot house to develop.

John Glacier’s Like a Ribbon is a powerful promise of issues to come back: a testomony to her creative sturdiness and dedication to her roots, whereas on the similar time a placing instance of her still-burgeoning potential. Glacier’s signature calming move and DIY beats nonetheless take the forefront, however whereas SHILOH usually felt small regardless of its creative deserves, Like a Ribbon seems like a jumping-off level for Glacier: the bulb of a plant that may unfold itself in any path it chooses.

This album attracts influences from a wealth of sources, synthesizing a venture that may solely come from one individual’s personal pursuits and obsessions. Instrumentals vary from the lo-fi drill and Jersey-club beats of “Don’t Cowl Me” and “Dancing within the Rain” to the slower, extra psychedelic digital tracks “Nevasure” or “Feelings.” Guitar riffs emblematic of the sluggish and tough Dean Blunt faculty of rap-rock are sometimes accompanied by distorted lure beats and warbled 808s. Every music feels considerably totally different, sure collectively by Glacier’s stripped-back manufacturing type and flowing spoken-word poetics.

It’s this variety that Like a Ribbon suffers from partly. Even with Glacier’s private, selfmade type, it typically seems like issues are thrown on the wall to see if they are going to stick. Within the latter half of her debut, Glacier’s songs appear to lack the creativity another tracks so effortlessly radiate.

The glistening, sample-laden “Discovered” is mild and repetitive, whereas its predecessor, “Regular As I Am”, feels disappointingly like a throwaway demo, the purpose accentuated maybe too clearly by the music’s tape deck loading-sound bookends. Glacier recovers with the extra thorough and developed “Ocean Stepping” with assistance from R&B powerhouse Sampha‘s vocals, however the issue is clear: regardless of its DIY appeal, Like a Ribbon is uneven and will use a bit extra modifying; a bit of extra doing it your self.

Glacier has made it clear in interviews that this can be a private venture for her, one in every of leisure creativity. It’s not that she isn’t working arduous, however extra that she has little interest in public opinion or institutional validation of her work. On her industrial potential, she has mentioned: “A serious [label] is perhaps like, ‘Oh, you’re sick, however we see you being this a lot greater, and it’s like, who mentioned I need to be greater?” It’s a contemporary absorb an inventive world fueled by viewers engagement and development, and John Glacier appears splendidly snug the place she is.

Although her eschewing of pressured development is clear, Like a Ribbon proves that the door is open if she needs it. I’m being cautious to not conflate corporate-influenced goals of fame and fortune upon the uncommon inventive who doesn’t care about such issues. Glacier can develop right into a generational artist who creates by the beat of her personal drum. Like a Ribbon could also be a captivating, distinctive venture crammed with thrilling highs and half-baked middlings, dogged often by its nonchalance, however it’s a stepping stone into an area that, hopefully, John Glacier shall be keen to fill.