- The neosoul scene in Brisbane has been growing in depth and maturity in recent years. One of its strongest players is a well-rounded performer, someone who’s covered a lot of ground while still young; just about everywhere you look in that scene you’ll find her and that person is Tiana Khasi.
From fronting well-known local collective Astro Travellers to prominent guest spots with the likes of Golden Vessel and Kite String Tangle and the beginnings of the kind of UK radio splash that made former Soul Has No Tempo labelmate Jordan Rakei a big thing, Tiana Khasi has a broad portfolio for someone who has yet to drop their debut EP.
There’s a bit of musical distance between between the soulful Travellers and the ‘tronic Tangle, so Khasi had some options in how to approach her solo debut, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that she’s taken the soulful route: warm and sedate, analogue and real. In fact you’ll find most if not all of the Astro Traveller’s members grooving away in the engine room of her rhythm section. Another key contributor, undoubtedly providing the smooth, showroom shine to Meghalaya’s production, is the veteran and recently prolific beats man, Sampology. His presence here -as another Soul Has No Tempo alumnus and a very close musical co-traveller- is kind of a no-brainer.
This isn’t an Astro Traveller’s record under another name however, or a Sampology record for that matter. Khasi has made this record her own. She does that most easily with her very serviceable voice. Despite her (half) Samoan heritage it’s not huge in the same way as, say, Kylie Auldist, or loaded down with mannerisms like Nai Palm. it’s more of a piece with slinky subtlety of someone like Syd Tha Kyd. You can hear the outline of her jazz training, but not too much of it, which I’m glad of. It’s like school couldn’t squeeze the life out of a voice which is good for anything and’ll last forever.
The other way Khasi owns this record is in her story, which it tells. Meghalaya, is the home of the other half of her family, in Northern India. In fact Khasi shares her surname with the name of people from that place, who also happen to be one of the few matriarchal cultures in the world today. You can begin to see why she would want to bring that here.
The EP opens with its title-track and breezy samples of swaying trees. Full of a quiet, gentle longing, lilting piano keys and strings. “Meghalaya, found my heart up in the hills … Teach me the secret truth / So beauty may reign again.” That folds neatly into the more forceful anthem, They Call Me: less of a celebration of woman in myth and folklore and more a diss to the blokes who write one-sided histories and mythologies: “They call me Eve...People’s history it starts with my name / They’re fully blaming me, but I feel no shame.” For all that the percussion pounds with intensity on this cut, it sticks at that initial level of energy and never dials it up further, though it feels like it could have.
There’s a thematic connection through the next three numbers, starting with the relationship drama full of love, betrayal and sassing in Georgia, progressing through the frustration of Bitterness which threatens to “leave all this first world **** behind” and on into the pressurised boil of single Nuketown. Whatever’s passed up to this point ****’s real now, as Khasi quietly, sweetly croons “prepare for your demise”. Although the funky backing has picked up a bit from the simple hiphop beat of Georgia, the restraint is so heavily palpable it’s more alarming than any flood of anger could be. It reminds me of Erykah Badu, who never loses her cool no matter what she’s singing about.
Khasi clearly has ice-water in her veins when she’s under stress, which makes the inspirational anthem Whole Lotta Shine that much more unexpected. The rhodes champs at the bit until the funk is finally let off the leash, liberally interlaced with latin syncopation and reverb heavy brass licks. “I gotta radiate the welcome, knowledge and experience manifested for all to share” Khasi spits, machine gun fast in this almost manic upswing. I’d be quite surprised if this didn’t end up being the final single from the EP.
After that singular surge of energy, it’s suddenly 3am in the jazz bar for final cut, Good Thing. The piano peels out bittersweet strains as Khasi eulogises a friendship and farewells the record.
Just like the Brisbane scene itself, much of the power and intricacy of Tiana Khasi’s Meghalaya is inwardly focused, hidden until you really listen. There’s a lot going on in an EP of understated power. It won’t break its leash and have everyone running around screaming, but it does invite you into the heart and soul of a talent that is only ever growing.
- Chris Cobcroft.