Tei Shi - Crawl Space

The Guardian 80

(Polydor)

A product of Argentina, Colombia, Canada and Boston’s Berklee College of Music, as a child Tei Shi would force herself into a crawl space to conquer her fear of the dark. Overcoming obstacles remains a theme on her seductive debut album. Tarantulas stud the video for Keep Running, a slice of breathy R&B pop. Previously known for her 2015 single Bassically, Tei Shi isn’t technically an indie artist any more, but her bijou brand of left-field R&B shares space with Chairlift or Little Dragon. The atmosphere is one of glacial sultriness laced with small surprises (Creep’s horns; childhood self-recordings), but Tei Shi’s lyrics interrogate love and its permutations with elegance, and her South American heritage emerges on the Spanish-language Como Si.