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Review

Album Review: Treesha - Love, Scars N' Attitude

03/03/2024

by Gardy Stein

Who better to kick off the women's month, than a female artist? Treesha boldly steps up for the task, releasing her new album Love, Scars N' Attitude on the first of March. She proudly presents the result of several months' cooking in the kitchens of her own Twende Records and the studios of Kage Sparks, Denham Smith and MediSun, a 13-track offering that has as many flavors to discover. As the three words in the title offer an interesting frame of talking about the individual songs, let's start with the most prominent category (expressed in the valiant album cover, too):

Attitude

"We don't come to linger, jina langu Treesha!" The opening lines of Tornado set the tone for the release, as the singer confidently introduces herself in her mother tongue Kiswahili. Accompanied by a fine Amapiano-stinged production by J Nyce, Treesha positions herself as in charge, in her life's driver seat.

Almost like a soundtrack for this attitude section, DJ Cmoh contributes three crisp instrumentals, oozing cool and poise, and Treesha makes them hers in different ways. Trap and HipHop run through Now I'm Up, a reflection on the milestones achieved during her journey, and the subsequent Notorious affirms the image of the powerful, talented female artist. "Notorious, do what I want, no stopping my vibes!" Final track in this trilogy, Dunkin' In High Heels adds church bells and zither sounds and a bit of EDM to the genre-mix, while, lyrically, Treesha strikes a balance between tough and sexy.

From Poland, producer K-Jah provides the riddim for Got Da Juice, one of the few tracks that's out on video as well. It is a celebration of her own prowess as well as that of every one of us, expressed most visibly in dancing – so dance along!

Not so easy to place is the track What's Your Problem, as it touches on all three subjects – Love, Scars N' Attitude. It talks about people in your life who never seem to be satisfied, who see problems everywhere and thus, sometimes, it is better to cut ties and continue without them. "I can fly when you're not here, so I conclude the problem is you and there's no more that I could do, cause you're the problem!" Produced by Dunmore "SoundBwoy" Chibvuwura, the underlying instrumental sticks out because it's almost pure acoustic, and Treesha's final kiss-teeth is epic.

Scars

Back in deep reggae waters, the Berlin-based Buff Baff provided Don't Waste My Time, a track that opens the scars section with a clear message to all those who have disappointed the artist in the past. Settling accounts with overly talkative people (put nicely), Chat Box doubles the female energy with the one and only Tanya Stephens. It is definitely one of the lighthouse tracks on the album, thanks to the engaging riddim by Ever Blazing Production and those two amazing vocalists, spicing it up with a perfectly fitting quote of Shaggy's Angel!

"Falling from the sky, ashes of deceit, burning from our greed, break out of our dreams, hate is all you see, slave to the machine, shackles on our feet, chasing our freedom…" Falling Sky lifts the conversation to a more general level, Treesha touching on important subjects and impressing with a brilliant vocal delivery. It is the first production of Florian "Stahl" Münzer, guitarist in Gentleman's The Evolution band, and its somewhat unsettling atmosphere is the perfect fit for the subject.  

The most memorable, most touching song oo the album (imho) is Living This Way. With warmth and grace, the riddim crafted by keyboarder Frank "Pollensi" Pollak becomes the parchment on which Treesha and featured artist Turbulence write a testimony of basic needs not met, of glaring injustices and important resources wasted in war and space instead of addressing humanity's most pressing issues. "I can't believe that we're living this way, people want food but we throw it away…"

Love

Love, finally, is of course a part of all tracks on the album (as in love for the music), but is expressed most clearly in the following three pieces. Singing about classic relationship love, Bugle joins Treesha in Wonders, their first but hopefully not last collaboration. Opening the love for friends and family, Positive Thoughts features another illustrious guest singer: Gentleman! Lyrically, they reminisce the good memories that have been created during years of touring and remind us of the importance to be grateful for the time spent together while visually, the song's essence is captured in a beautiful black-and-white video by Matias and Pedro Miralles. "Braveheart, just do the work!"

Forbidden Fruit comes full circle with the first track Tornado, not only by using Kiswahili again, but also by touching base with Afrofusion production, this time by Lavoro Duro Music. 

"Tuende kazi!" ('let's get to work') seems to be Treesha's motto, expressed in several songs and in her positive, inspiring work ethic. Love, Scars N' Attitude is a "big woman ting", an album materialized from an opportune liaison of talent, the right connections and a full determination to succeed. Keep going, team Treesha!

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