2 of 5
— James Brandon Lewis
3 of 5
— Damon Locks
4 of 5
— Alexa Tarantino
5 of 5
— Roxana Amed
Jen Shyu, "Living's a Gift | Part 3: My Unsolved Regrets"
Zero Grasses: Ritual For the Losses is the latest artistic statement from Jen Shyu, a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer with the blazing heart of an artist and the curious mind of an ethnographer. It seems unlikely that we'll encounter another album this year with a more striking balance of formal invention and personal revelation.
One of the losses ritualized in Shyu's album title refers to her father, who died in 2019. Another is poignantly realized on "Lament for Breonna Taylor." And on a suite in four parts titled "Living's a Gift," Shyu incorporates lyrics composed by middle school students, describing the surreal privations of their pandemic experience.