Crawl Space

The songs on Tei Shi’s debut album are tied together with short recordings from her childhood: “I just hope one day, I can be like Britney Spears,” she laments, after complaining that she can’t do anything right. But on Crawl Space, she gets a lot right: She flexes an impressive vocal range, nuanced songwriting, and her own suave production. Yet what really makes Tei Shi such a force is the way she tries on sounds and personas like costumes: sex kitten, girl next door, pop star. In that way, she has become a bit like Britney, bravely pushing the envelope in search of her authentic self.