Speech Debelle - 'Better Days'
Release date: 3rd August 2009
Record label: Big Dada/Ninja Tune

“I got a half cup of hope/And I’m sippin’ slow”

Speech Debelle returns with one of the standout cuts from her hugely acclaimed debut album, “Speech Therapy”. Featuring a chorus from another debut artist making waves this year, Micachu, “Better Days” is a harder hitting, more beat-led piece of hip hop than some of her earlier releases, but loses none of their emotional charge.

Produced by Plutonic Lab during Speech’s stay in Australia, Ms Debelle returned to Blighty without a chorus in place. After various ideas for singers were mooted she settled on Micachu, who could add a distinctive and distinctly British soul to proceedings. The result is blazing – swinging, snapping drums contrasted with deep double bass and acoustic guitar, Speech’s clever, incisive, real lyrics and the unexpected twists of Micachu’s melancholy chorus. As NME has already put it, it’s “a slow-burning slice of pop that’s both unsettlingly gloomy and joyously uplifitng.”

The single also features bonus track, “Where Do We Go?” – a jazzy little number over which Speech ranges lyrically from the personal to the global.

With “Speech Therapy” already being tipped as one of the albums of the year, “Better Days” is a reminder just why so many people are getting so excited about this young South Londoner….