From the album’s title of 11:11, to the names of the tracks ‘4AM’ and ‘9 to 5’, to the alarm beeping at the end of ‘I Keep Losing Sleep’, the concept of time is clearly important to Ireland-born Jessica Smyth. Time in Smyth’s case has allowed the London-based musician to evolve her thoughts on the concept of relationships, digest the loss of a dear friend and develop her sound (over the course of her career her music has transformed from lounge rap to drum and bass to synth pop) and image (becoming more of a confident glamourous pop princess as oppose to chilled out humbleness) to the way she would like to be. It has taken time for Biig Piig – the moniker of Jessica Smyth – to release her debut LP. A long wait especially for fans who have followed the NiNE8 member’s work across a mixtape and a series of EPs dating back to the release of 2017’s twinkling scat-sung single ‘Vice City’. Although Biig Piig has admitted in interviews that she chose not to release an album until the time and content felt right, naturally this builds anticipation and expectation. Especially considering, she has released some memorable and bold singles over the last eight years (this writer’s favourites being ‘Sunny,’ ‘Feels Right’ and ‘Roses and Gold’). 11:11 half delivers on the promise that came before it.
Biig Piig works best when the sound itself is at either end of the pace scale. As the Irelander’s distinctively unique voice can remain effortless and whispery – whether singing or rapping – it works well at flowing with a slow tide, as well as contrasting to alcohol-drenched dance beats, as is the case in the 27-year-old’s previous discography. The gorgeous ‘One Way Ticket’ exemplifies the former combination and one of the album’s smarter production moments. Scratchy acoustic guitar is punctuated with an effective woozy refrain creating both a lulling and unsettling mood. “If you could see me now, I know that you’d say “I told ya” is a smile-worthy line when you consider it’s a love letter to a departed friend. A type of relationship she still cherishes.
‘Brighter Day’ makes one think about early 2000’s music. In a both good and bad way. The first 28 seconds recall the time when hip-hop music had an obsession with squeakifying vocal samples (Akon’s ‘Lonely ‘et al. ) but once that part is over we are presented with a soothing neo soul that can imagine a happy-go-lucky strolling through the streets of Notting Hill on a sunny Sunday while Capital FM streams out of a picnic-accompanying DAB radio (think of music like Gabrielle). The organ and subtle keyboard are a nice touch. Jessica Smyth has a love of club culture due to the way it bring communities together and ‘Stay Home’ brings the community spirit by getting her friends and familial relations to join together in singing. Recorder in a pub, it is an inspired moment that takes the rough edges of the aforementioned ‘One Way Ticket’ and the grunge guitars from The Sky Is Bleeding EP with the jubilated make-shift choir singing about an often overlooked type of relationship; one’s family. It would be a wonderful encore at concerts.
On the other end of the scale is ‘4.AM’ and ‘Decimal’; effective dance songs that highlight the best aspect of nightclub culture. The free spirited impulse. The beat of the latter is reminiscent of 2023’s ‘Watch Me’, and is unfortunately the only track in which she adopts her occasionally used Spanish language skill. Which is a shame. Nevertheless, it has Biig Piig’s great style of edgy electronica and you can sense the dancefloor sweat in the line: “I want a change of pace, raise it a decimal. I need the walls to shake, need you to take control Baby. I can’t escape, it’s not the alcohol that makes me feel this way, want you to take me home.”
The former ‘4AM’ hears Jessica Smyth cross back and forth being a drunken affair and its after effects. “I know you don’t wanna be alone. ‘Causе no one does, it’s no wonder” is juxtaposed with “I still think about the kiss we had that day. How no one on this earth could make me feel that way. Breaks my heart to know it was the last time, babe.” Through the use of the gentle guitars, there’s certainly a nostalgic summer lookback vibe to it and the switch between funk bass and house bass is refreshing. However, the echo production is a bit predictable and here lies the problem with the yet to be mentioned other tracks on 11:11.
Unfortunately they have some of the irritating predictable tropes of EDM and pop (distorting and sucking out the personality of the vocalist on ‘Ponytail’, overproduction and clapping on ‘Favourite Girl’, Minnie Mousing a voice on ‘I Keep Losing Sleep’ anddull backing track ‘9 to 5’) . They flow by without grabbing attention due to being easy to forget (‘Cynical’) and short – although the short length of the tracks is a problem across all but one song, just when you are about to get absorbed the song abruptly ends before hitting the 3 minute mark (a track with soothing key changes ‘Silhouette’ is a victim of this) – or sit in the middle ground between dance and mellow, therefore not working with Smyth’s voice effectively. The tracks don’t really add anything to the exploring relationships narrative, put Biig Piig in danger of losing her unique identity, so it would have better if they hadn’t made the final cut.
Although then we would be probably be left with another EP, which in turn doesn’t fulfil the craving that fans had for her first LP. However, the anticipation time hasn’t been wasted, as there is a lot to like, admire and learn from 11:11 – the name for the mantra that Biig Piig has adopted to reflect the time of day when we should all take time out and reflect on our past and present states.
