The East London rapper and producer’s debut has the feel of a mixtape, luxuriating in the tension between her reticent persona and raw lyricism.
SHILOH is the East London rapper-producer’s most substantial work to date, following a handful of wispy feature verses for fellow rap esoterics Babyfather, Jeshi, and LYAM; it arrives via scene-shaping producer and Frank Ocean collaborator Vegyn’s PLZ Make It Ruins. Vegyn made contact after coming across Glacier’s SoundCloud page; pay a visit yourself and you’ll find a handful of snippets with functional titles like “Sounds from Friday evening” and “A Child was Sad so I made this infront of her to make her laugh.” As the pair exchanged messages, they realized they’d met multiple times before—trading gripes at the back of parties, each grateful for an understanding ear.
In 2019, Vegyn opened up his studio space to Glacier—she favored the night shifts—prompting a loose back-and-forth of ideas. Two years later, their sketches emerge as these 12 mostly brief tracks. SHILOH has the feel of a mixtape: Works in progress nestle alongside more carefully structured songs (the percussive cascades on “If Anything” are nothing if not meticulous); ad libs are replaced with Glacier’s in-the-moment reactions to her own output (a gargled “ergh” of apparent disgust on “Timing” is comical as it is vulnerable). But Glacier’s productions—completed alongside a tight-knit ensemble of Vegyn, Holly, Psychedelic Ensemble, and Tn_490—coat the record with a cool, understated gloss and keep it from unravelling.
| A1 | If Anything |
| A2 | Icing |
| A3 | Cryptomnesia |
| A4 | Trelawny Waters |
| A5 | Timing |
| A6 | Senseless |
| A7 | Boozy |
| A8 | Platoon |
| A9 | Green Elephants Freestyle |
| A10 | Some Other Thing |
| A11 | On Formulation |
| A12 | No More Left Like It's Death |
