Greentea Peng — GREENZONE 108 — Mixtape Review
Alternative | Psychedelic | Indie | Soul
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Greentea Peng is certainly one of the more exciting artists that I have discovered in recent years. Having discovered her through her single “Mr. Sun (miss da sun)”, which led up to her 2019 EP RISING, I was quickly able to pick up on her psychedelic and soulful sound.
From there, Greentea Peng had only evolved her sound more. Last year, we received her debut album MAN MADE. And while said album was perhaps a little drawn out, with its runtime of just over an hour, there were still many gems to found on it, which in turn strengthened her discography.
With that, I wasn’t expecting another big project as soon as her newest record, GREENZONE 108. However, there are definitely no complaints from me.
Labelled as a mixtape this time around, GREENZONE 108 offers a more stripped down list of tracks in comparison to her debut album. Although, there is still plenty of tunes to sink into. Not only that; Greentea Peng certainly comes forward with a quality over quantity approach this time around.
Many of the tracks on this record feel more tied into one-another stylistically, which in my mind is a very good thing. It allows GREENZONE 108 to breathe freely as a consistent yet enjoyable musical experience.
I of course managed to listen to some of the teaser tracks that Greentea Peng had put out in the lead-up to this mixtapes release, including “Your Mind”, “Stuck In The Middle”, and “Look To Him”. From all three of these, I picked up on the soulful familiarities that made Greentea Peng’s previous material so enjoyable. However, there’s a general feeling that the quality of her production has heightened dramatically, which definitely presented promising signs going forward.
Thankfully, the remainder of this mixtape follows suit with the better sense of musical quality. Not only does Greentea Peng ramp up the spiritual vibes to 11, but each of the tracks have at least a few things going for them, which allow them to stand out as enjoyable tunes in their own right.
I think with an album like MAN MADE (as good as it was), there was more of a sense of trying perhaps a bit too hard to appeal to a wider audience with its psychedelic tones, detracting the slightest bit of the Greentea Peng authenticity. But with GREENZONE 108, it’s a different story. It by far feels like the most authentic project from the artist thus far, and made me think “yep, this is Greentea Peng alright”. I feel that very few other artists (if any at all) could achieve the same kind of vibe that Greentea Peng champions with this new mixtape.
There are still a small handful of tracks on this thing that still felt a little bit repetitive in my mind. But for the most part, GREENZONE 108 absolutely hits in all the right places. Perhaps by merit of being a mixtape, Greentea Peng had more freedom to put her creativity first. going forward, I would love to hear more of what this excellent mixtape presents.
Favourite Tracks: Look To Him | Your Mind | Top Steppa
Least Favourite Track: Our Father
EMI | Universal Music
