Annahstasia’s hauntingly beautiful debut is one of the year’s best albums

Music nowadays is often discussed in terms of first-week sales and streams, so it’s a pleasant surprise to find someone thinking long-term.

Speaking to Paste Magazine, Los Angeles-based folk singer Annahstasia Enuke said: “I’m creating within a concept of time that is 100 years long — not a year long. I want this record to be something that people revisit long after I’m gone.”

She’s fond of grand, poetic proclamations like this, and judging by her debut LP Tether, has more than enough talent to back them up. Easily one of the year’s best, it’s an album that announces itself as important in its opening moments.

The first thing we hear is her voice, and it’s immediately obvious what a rare and special thing it is. Quavering, husky, tonally pure, some comparisons spring to mind - Tracy Chapman, Anohni, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring - but the truth is, Annahstasia sings like no one else. That alone marks this release as essential, before its 11 songs show she’s equally gifted at songwriting.

Tether is often mournful, and full of piercing melodies. Upon your second listen you may be surprised how familiar the songs already are. They’re frequently understated, and never flashy, but constructed so precisely as to take up residence in your head.

Highlights are plentiful, from the sparse, ghostly ‘Satisfy Me’, to full-band foot-stomper ‘Overflow’. Nigerian-British musician Obongjayar guests on jazzy ballad ‘Slow’, and poet Aja Monet contributes spoken word to ‘All Is. Will Be. As It Was’.

Largely built around acoustic guitar, recordings include small, human details like Enuke’s hand knocking the instruments’ wood. She’s been tagged as a folk musician, but the breadth of music is so great that description starts to feel reductive.

Recording without a click track means the timing ebbs and flows. Several songs gradually build to a climax. ‘Villain’, another highpoint, adds gospel backing vocals and soul horns as it goes, ending on a swelling, emotive finale.

Aged 30, with just one EP prior to this release, Annahstasia feels like she appeared from nowhere, but the truth is more complex: a record deal at 17, then abandonment of the music industry and successful career modelling (she appeared recently in the music video for Kendrick Lamar and Sza’s ‘Luther’).

That time has allowed her to find her voice, and suss out her musical priorities. Consequently, Tether arrives fully-formed and incredibly exciting, sure to appear on many end-of-year lists.

New Brighton’s Blair Parkes has built up an extensive body of work over the years, from bands The L.E.D.s and All Fall Down, to his more recent solo work. For Softly Softly he’s joined by Miss Mercury on vocals, the pair delivering eight lovelorn tracks stuffed with hooks and layered in guitar fuzz.

Kae Tempest has spent several albums carving out a quieter, more introspective sound, so this return to bass-heavy hip-hop initially struck me as a misstep. Listening more though, his knack for scathingly honest lyricism still shines through, and the air of celebration on Self Titled is much appreciated.

Listen to Tony Stamp play more tracks from Tether on Music 101 on Saturday 2 August.