The past weekend brought us reggae rising star, Lila Ike’s first project in the form of an EP appropriately titled ‘The ExPerience’. ‘The ExPerience’ in just seven tracks, takes one on a rollercoaster of emotions before ultimately satisfying the spirit the way any spectacular body of work should. Despite the EP being Lila’s first project, she has long since been on Jamaica’s radar of starlets sporting massive potential as she along with her label mates from Protoje’s Indiggnation, headlined many a performance and tour. The beginning of the year even saw her among the chosen few on Carib Voxx’s Reggae Artists to Watch in 2020 list.
As is custom with the release of an album or EP, Lila undaunted by the government issued mandates keeping her fans inside, kept her listening party via Instagram live the night before her project’s launch. The nearly four thousand viewers of the live got an exclusive first listen of ‘The ExPerience’ track by track with Lila answering fan questions and telling anecdotes about her process in the building of the project. The live also was visited spontaneously by celebrity guests including Koffee, Popcaan and Swizz Beatz himself.
Lila Ike did what she had to do with ‘The ExPerience’. Her first complete body of work carried the familiar roots-rock sound that has become her trademark since her debut in 2017 but saw her branching out and experimenting with edgier nuances reminiscent of mid to late nineties soul and r&b female artists. Featured on the album are familiar favourites ‘Second Chance’, ‘Where I’m Coming From’ and ‘I Spy’ released as singles in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. Rounding out the tracklist is ‘Solitude’, ‘Stars Align’, ‘Forget Me’ and ‘Thy Will’. The latter of which is produced by Protoje himself and according to Lila on her live listening, almost didn’t cut it being a swift fan favourite out the blocks.
The EP is truly diverse with its genre-defying songs. It allows Lila the vehicle in which to carry across themes of new romance and its frustrations, spirituality and peace-seeking using characteristically sweet vocals and deadly deejaying prowess. Among producers on the project are Kasadie “Caspa” Jones, J.L.L, Ziah who also lends his talents in the form of live instruments, Izy Beats, Winta James, Lamont “Monty” Savory and Protoje. ‘The ExPerience’ also pays homage to the genre it is largely built on borrowing elements from iconic riddims such as ‘More Baltimore’ by Sly & Robbie and ‘Love Fire’ made popular by Dennis Brown with 1985’s ‘Promised Land’.
A beautiful and cohesive body of work, Lila Ike’s debut project promises to stand out as a new standard for upcoming Jamaican artists. Buy and stream ‘The ExPerience’ now on all music streaming platforms.
