Shygirl preceded her debut album with several singles that moved in a more melodic, intimate direction than her abrasive early EPs and singles. Aided by a cast of collaborators including
Sega Bodega,
Cecile Believe, and
Mura Masa,
Nymph is still as bawdy and sexually commanding as
Shygirl's earlier work, but in a far more introspective way, as the singer/rapper feels unafraid to confess her deepest desires. The
Arca-produced "Come for Me" feels closest to the more industrial hip-hop sound of 2018's Cruel Practice, with crunching neoperreo rhythms backing
Shygirl's pitch-shifted vocals and yearning hooks. The glitchy, U.K. garage-influenced "Firefly" fulfills all the promise of
Shygirl's directional shift, and is just a beautiful, exciting, emotionally touching song, directly competing with "BB" as her overall best. Nothing else on the album attempts to reach the same sort of ecstatic high, but most of the material is still impressive, especially on repeated listens. "Nike" is representative of the raw, unsubtle
Shygirl, but other tracks are gentler and more heartfelt. Somehow the song titled "Coochie (a bedtime story)" sounds cute and childlike rather than crass. "Honey" (co-written and co-produced by
Vegyn) is a lush ambient breakbeat track with slick yet hard-hitting lyrics, and "Wildfire" sets ethereal vocals to a flickering drum'n'bass beat.
Nymph isn't exactly the type of album full of bangers that one might have previously expected from
Shygirl, but it reveals a greater depth to her personality, and it's consistently inventive and awe-inspiring. ~ Paul Simpson