Little Simz Lotus Vinyl Review
Little Simz Lotus Vinyl Review. A rich, soul-soaked LP that hits harder with each spin. Full vinyl pressing details and sound quality notes.
Album Details:
Release date: 6th June 2025
Label: AWAL Recordings
Tracklist:
A1. Thief
A2. Flood
A3. Young
A4. Only
B1. Free
B2. Peace
B3. Hollow
C1. Lion
C2. Enough
C3. Blood
D1. Lotus
D2. Lonley
D3. Blue
The Weight of Stillness: Little Simz Lotus on Wax
Some artists explode. Others radiate. Lotus is the latter.
Little Simz isn’t chasing charts. She’s not swinging at headlines or feeding the feed. She’s refining.
Tuning in. Pulling back. Lotus doesn’t roar, it hums, floats, and cuts quietly. That’s why it hits so hard.
If you’re buying the vinyl, good. This is how you hear it, right?
Album Overview: Lotus in a Sentence
Still, soulful, and sharp. Simz finds the calm inside chaos and makes it groove.
A-Side: Raw Flow and Slow Fire
"Thief"
Low, brooding beat. Simz drops into the pocket and doesn’t leave. It’s sparse but never empty. The mix is air-tight, and the tone is serious. A mood-setter.
"Flood" (ft. Obongjayar & Moonchild Sanelly)
Heavy with drums and layered voices. Obongjayar’s delivery clashes and melts with Simz’s steady flow. Moonchild adds her surreal edge. On wax, the low-end growls.
"Young"
Lighter touch. A gentle rhythm and Simz at her most reflective. She’s looking back, but her voice is present. It’s all feel. The vinyl gives her tone real grain.
"Only" (ft. Lydia Kitto)
Lydia’s voice floats over keys and brushed drums. Simz glides in with tight bars, never rushed. The warmth of the pink vinyl suits this track perfectly.
Side B: Flowing and Lush
"Free"
She sounds defiant here. The groove is stiff and sharp, like walking uphill. The hook sticks but doesn’t shout. Just hangs there.
"Peace" (ft. Moses Sumney & Miraa May)
he most delicate song on Side A. Moses is barely tethered to the beat, Miraa swoops in and out. Simz centres the track. Stunning layering.
"Hollow"
Hollow is dense. The drums thud and crack, and the hook rolls like smoke. One of her most rhythmic deliveries. It closes Side A with weight.
Side C: Bold Moves
"Lion" (ft. Obongjayar)
Obongjayar returns, bolder. It’s louder and faster. Simz is unshaken. She runs straight lines through the chaos. Feels cinematic on vinyl.
"Enough" (ft. Yukimi Nagano)
Soft keys. Yukimi’s voice is silk. Simz takes her time, letting each bar breathe. Feels late-night, close to the chest.
"Blood" (ft. Wretch 32 & Cashh)
Soft keys. Yukimi’s voice is silk. Simz takes her time, letting each bar breathe. Feels late-night, close to the chest.
Side D: Quiet Bloom and Fade Out
"Lotus" (ft. Michael Kiwanuka & Yussef Dayes)
The bloom. The calm. Kiwanuka sounds timeless. Dayes’ drums swing softly. Simz whispers more than raps. A slow explosion.
"Lonely"
A single voice and some static. Sparse piano. It aches. One of the quietest moments on the record. All space.
"Blue" (ft. Sampha)
Sampha closes it like a curtain drop. Gentle keys. Simz returns with gratitude and grace. The kind of ending that fades, not ends.
Vinyl Pressing Details
This version is pressed on pink vinyl 180g, clean and centred. Housed in a matte gatefold sleeve with printed lyrics and artwork. The inner sleeve is thick, printed, and includes a credit insert.
Mastered by Metropolis, Matrix Runout confirms. The warmth and detail are there from the first drop. No flaws on my copy, silent run-ins, no pops.
Sound Quality: Lush and Detailed
The low end is full and round without being heavy. Vocals are dry, direct, and dead-centred. Highs are rolled off nicely, no sibilance, no fatigue. String and sample layers stay separated.
Each artist’s feature is well placed in the mix. You hear Moses’ falsetto bloom and Sampha’s hush without volume dips. The vinyl does justice to every subtle turn.
Artwork and Packaging
The cover art shows Simz blurred in bloom, a match for the album’s tone. No text on the front. Tracklist on the back with soft photo print. No barcode. Just design.
The gatefold opens to full lyrics and a collage of studio images. Feels personal. The inner sleeve is sturdy. No corner dings or seam splits. A beautiful pressing all around.
Little Simz Lotus Vinyl Review: Summary
Lotus was released on Forever Living Originals as a 180g pink vinyl in a matte gatefold sleeve. It’s pressed clean and mastered by John Dent Jr. at Metropolis, giving it a warm, open sound that suits the record’s quiet depth.
The genre is hard to pin down, part hip hop, part soul, part jazz, but it flows like one long thought. The best moment comes on the title track, where Simz’s patience and control bloom into something full and grounded.
“Falling” may be gone, but “Blue” now fills that closing role with just as much hush and ache. The whole record feels built for vinyl. The soundstage is wide, the low end rich but not bloated, and the vocals sit dead-centre with real texture. It’s one of those records that sounds better the more you sit with it. Fans of Loyle Carner, SAULT, or Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered. Will feel right at home.
The pressing quality is excellent, flat, centred, and quite straight out of the shrink. The packaging is elegant and minimal, with no barcode, no hype sticker, and no wasted space. Just art, lyrics, and a sense that what you’re holding matters.
Vinyl Thoughts: Measured and Mastered
Lotus isn’t urgent. It’s certain. Every verse, beat, and breath feels chosen. The vinyl version makes that even clearer. There’s air in this album and on wax, you can hear it move.
Simz pulls back from the big moments to give you smaller ones. But those are the ones that stick.
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