Music
Bel Cobain
Raw soul music such as you can only create in the all-encompassing clamor of the British capital
You can spot a London soul musician from a mile away in '26: Bel Cobain also possesses a deep, sigh-like voice; the percussion is thoughtful and her gospel moments are—somewhere between introspection and ecstasy—unerringly positioned. But besides being highly skilled, Cobain is also a free spirit, someone who, from her metropolitan home base, has begun to yearn for the rustling of leaves and fertile soil. 'I'm so lonely in this fucking city', she sings, and as an escape attempt, her music takes a Pink Floyd-like flight. Cobain's uplifting, genre-transcending gentleness was, naturally, picked up by the legendary radio DJ Gilles Peterson, on whose label her most recent EP, Kizzy, was released.
