Greentea Peng - TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY

If anyone can attest to the sentiment ‘healing is not linear’, it’s Greentea Peng. The self-described psychedelic R&B artist – real name Aria Wells – has always candidly shared her journey of self-reflection and spiritual connection through music. 2021 debut ‘MAN MADE’ and subsequent mixtape ‘GREENZONE 108’ translated the chaos of the objective world into creation, detailing a return to source characterised by self-discovery, love and growth atop a vast backdrop of neo-soul, jazz, dub and hip hop influences. Meticulously produced with consideration of the most vibrational details (such as recording her debut’s title track one frequency below industry standard to mirror the natural frequency of the universe), Greentea has an established gift for creating optimal collections to expand your consciousness.

‘TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY’ delves further into this awakening with a nuanced examination of the self – the light and the dark – and an acceptance of surrender, best summarised by ‘GREEN’: “Come over and in, and let the healing begin / That’s how we solve business when shedding one’s skin / Feel it all around and let it enter within / There’s no resisting, you may as well give in.” Positioned later in the record, it feels like the heart of the work, with its resonant point of embracing lessons and uncomfortable change serving to contextualise the album’s broader themes. Opener ‘BALI SKIT PART 1’ invokes a trance-like state with rotational synths, a low-flowing bassline, and otherworldly vocals; elsewhere, Greentea feels around for a sense of belonging on the synthpop-powered ‘NOWHERE MAN’, bears baggage on the shadowy ‘MY NECK’ (featuring Wu-Lu), consolidates oneness on the grit-edged ‘CREATE AND DESTROY’, and seeks tranquility through the experience of being malleably human on the patter-pulsed ‘THE END (PEACE)’.

Much like the process of inner work, ‘TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY’ is gently transformative; it channels patience and expansion, ultimately speaking to the heart as a continuation of the unending path that Greentea has shown listeners thus far. Healing may not be linear, but for Greentea Peng, the journey feels like it’s headed in the right direction.