Released: 17/11/23
Following the complex large-ensemble work that is 2022’s remarkable Blk Elijah & The Children of Meroë, the new album from the preternaturally gifted South African artist Thandi Ntuli is a much more stripped-back affair, putting her virtuosic piano playing front and centre. Foregrounded too is Ntuli’s downright amazing voice, which, like her instrument, shorn of reverb, makes for a highly intimate listening experience. It’s all beautifully produced by International Anthem artist Carlos Niño, and his co-billing is much-deserved.
Rainbow Revisted, then, is markedly different from the percussion-heavy Alice Coltrane-nodding transcendental jazz of Blk Elijah …, and 2018’s Exiled, and the circuitous, minimalist piano works are simply mesmerising, ushering forth exquisite patterns, beautifully matched by Ntuli’s understated vocal motifs.