Alisha’s Essence is a homebound sonic trip for anyone struggling with their place among post-colonial definitions of purpose and belonging.
Alisha’s EP Essence is like a nice and easy landing after too long with your head in the post-colonial clouds. This reggae- and raga-inspired project is as grounding as it is uplifting, balancing dreamy electric keys with syncopated bass beats and meditative vocals. Alisha’s debut makes space for all the vulnerabilities ordinarily drowned out by competing ideologies, bringing us back to the earthly sources that sustain life.
“Silence Shines” begins with an atmospheric drone, then builds to a lively dance of counteracting rhythms and percussive embellishments, resembling rattlesnakes and water droplets. The lyrics on “Vulnerability” encourage self-expression, like a mantra to trust those inherent instincts: “Listen to the nudges / the path laid out by my desire.”
Airing intersectional identity unapologetically, Alisha’s lyrics reclaim ancestral influences that are too easily tokenized and streamlined in popular media: “We are what our ancestors could have been.” Their introspections animated by vibrations, Alisha’s music seems to suggest that by looking inward, one can find all that is needed to navigate the external world: “I am holding all that I’ll ever need.”
This homebound sonic trip is a must-hear for anyone struggling with their place among post-colonial definitions of purpose and belonging, a reminder to “Speak your needs, love / rest in ease, my love / let yourself be seen.”
