Juxtaposing booming city rhythms with lilting folk, Jeremy Loops perfectly captures the duality of his South African life. The extremes aren't new to the singer, who by day travels to the furthest corners of Africa to battle deforestation through his organization, Greenpop, and by night resumes as raconteur for raucous fans around the world. In a whirlwind 2014, Loops debuted at #1 on iTunes in South Africa, headlined major festivals, and maintained #1 on the three most prominent radio stations in Southern Africa with 'Down South', his breakout single...

Jeremy Loops's debut album, Trading Change is certainly a feel good summer album, which is, rather bizarrely, being released as Autumn commences.

The LP opens with 'Sinner' which gives a taster of what is to come. The LP contains 12 tracks (42 min, 46 sec) all of which could easily be singles in their own right.

While this is predominately an indie album, it also dips its toe into various genres including a little rap ('Down South'). Oddly enough, I found 'Down South' the weakest single on the album, yet this is the track that acted as Loops's breakout single, reaching #1 in the South African charts.

For me, 'Dynamite' was a stand out track, as was the duet 'Lonesome & Blue', and 'Skinny Blues'. The album's closer, 'Basil', is also a strong track, and leaves you wanting more.

The only slight issue you may have is tracking down a copy, neither iTunes or Amazon in the UK appear to be stocking it.

10

Nick Smithson