Live Review: G Elenil's 'Kin' EP is a testament to success through struggle

Sometimes, questioning family can be a tough task to muster. Family values anchor modern society to what it is, and a certain discomfort exists in discussing internal family issues openly. On top of that, what we define as 'family' has become looser as time as gone on, meaning harder discussions with far more people than just those we share a last name with. Eliciting your struggle might be daunting to say the least, but on her Kin EP, G ELENIL is tackling it head on and letting us in on only what we need to know.

Opening with the minimal, bouncy 'Something', G Elenil wastes no time in showing us the light and the dark, and the delicate balance between the two, as she touts herself with a cheeky grin, while reflecting on her past. That same braggadocio is present on following track 'BadTime' which gives us a clear and brazen idea just how air-tight G Elenil's wordplay and flow are:

"Back home I would harvest/Trees all for the olive/Best believe I got guidance/No branches just fruity."

When the slightly darker 'Same Here' struts in, G Elenil - with help from producer TOMTOM - manages to switch from haunting and slurred on the hook to absolute fiery onslaught in the verses. It's a duality where she definitely seems most comfortable, and she pulls the versatility off with ease. As the pop anthem 'GoodTime' - the twisted sister to 'BadTime' - creeps in, G Elenil lets us peer into some honest self-reflection and peer into her heavenly singing voice. On the song, it's clear she's struggling with trust and admits her inability to let her walls down - "We were always so/Forward with our hands when the time came/You were always so/Forward with your thoughts but I can’t change." It's a refreshing and humanising look into a woman who, throughout this whole EP, seemed invincible.

By the time the closing 'Cool It' comes around, we get a sense that under the veneer of a woman in chink-less armour lays a struggle and a tumultuous past. Even throughout the entirety of Kin, G Elenil rarely airs all her dirty laundry but, instead, airs just enough. There's a familiar restraint in how she tells us what she's gone through because, frankly, we're not entitled to know everything. We know just enough to believe that her rocket ship is built on struggle, and that rocketship is soaring to new, intergalatic heights - leaving G Elenil's troubled past in its wake.

Image via Facebook

Words by Jackson Langford

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