Track Review: Shabaka - Timepieces (feat. billy woods)
Label: Verve Label Group / UMG Recordings, Inc.
Released: November 15th, 2024
Genre: Jazz, Hip-hop
Tracklist:
01. Timepieces (feat. billy woods)
Shabaka and woods get together to navigate loss and its never-ending grieving process.
There are plenty of platitudes about time: It’s a social construct; it’s of the essence; it heals all wounds. Shabaka’s “Timepieces,” the debut single for the British jazz multi-instrumentalist’s forthcoming Possession EP featuring New York City rapper billy woods, validates and deconstruct these clichés all at the same time. In two and a half minutes, woods re-processes the grief of a longterm relationship. While he can use milestones to keep himself in check (“Been 15 years since the decision;” “20 years is a long time / Too long for second-guessing”), there are still memories too vivid to forget (“Watch you strip on the bed / Sun rising on the skyline”). Regardless of the time that’s passed, reminders can be inescapable — a shared child in woods’ case — but distractions can help mute the intrusive thoughts. In the background, pained moans slip throughout Shabaka’s compositions. Creeping keys roll slowly into gripping, high-pitched flutes. The groans are ever-present even as drums join the instrumental, ascending it into cacophony. woods’ verse seeps with hypocrisy, but it’s a realistic expression of the humbling process of going through loss. It brings both comfort and fear knowing that sometimes there’s no moving on, just moving forward.
