The contemporary folk singer known as Tiki Black has released her latest single, “Free Like Smoke,” featuring Jo Bywater. The track is the most significant release from Black since her 2013 LP record, “Out of the Black.” Both releases have been published on the No Sugar Added independent music label. Sonorous, melodic and carrying on its shoulders a heartfelt narrative, “Free Like Smoke” is a poignant reminder why Tiki Black’s fan base continues to grow around the world.
Parisian-born Tiki Black cites as main artistic influences Bob Marley, Georges Brassens, Alanis Morrissette, Tori Amos, Eboa Lotin, Dolly Parton, Barbara, and Charles Aznavour. Her own sound on “Free Like Smoke” is grounded in the traditions of folk music, yet surpasses these with modern nuances all her own for a tone that is incomparable to the styles and timbres of her contemporaries both inside the genre of folk music and out.
Speaking of the theme of her “Free Like Smoke,” Black writes,
“The single speaks of someone who does not get their head out of the sand and, missing the silver line, also misses the opportunity of personal growth. They also miss the opportunity to own their lives and therefore dis-empower themselves from the ability to change it.”
The single comes from her acclaimed “Out of the Black” LP, which has garnered accolades from critics and listeners alike.
“’Out of the Black’ is about coming out of hiding, being released, using the analogy of a birth with [the negatives of] pain and fear turned positive through creation,” she explains.
Certainly, there can be no hiding for Tiki Black no that the public ear has turned her direction. Spiral Earth writes of her,
“The voice is the instrument that draws us in, it can challenge or comfort us, awaken us or lull us, inspire or reassure. Tiki Black has a voice that can do all of this and more … Warm, embracing and timeless.”
Junior’s Cave lauds, “Tiki Black is the perfect poster child for what it means to be a genuine indie performer . Black’s music speaks to a generation that needs a voice that knows their pain, joy, achievements, failures, and struggles. She sings from the heart, and Black’s music pours out her soul to her listeners … This publication is in love with this artist’s music.”
Glasswerk calls her music “Songs that tug at the heartstrings without ever giving the impression they were written purely to do so.”
Speaking of her start in music, Tiki Black relates, “I started to write songs early but I never really thought of it as a job (future or present) just something that is natural to beings, like breathing. Expression was not just about exorcism or exhaling, it was a mixture of creating something new with what existed, a sort of poetically multi-dimensional recycling where the end art would present the original from one of its hidden, yet beautiful perspectives. Little did I realise how impossible it would be for me to just keep it as a side passion.”
“Free Like Smoke” by Tiki Black and featuring Jo Bywater becomes available online worldwide 15 December 2015. Get in early, folk fans.
