Izzy Bizu: Artist You Should Know

Every few months a new artist will emerge from seemingly out of nowhere and totally blow me away. A couple of years ago Jake Bugg did that with “Lightning Bolt“.

Earlier this year it was Laura Mvula and, later, Lorde. I had that experience again last week upon hearing Izzy Bizu for the first time.

The 19-year old Londoner recently released a 6-track EP out entitled “Coolbeanz”, but it was the remix by Star Slinger that served as my introduction to her work.

I always check out anything Star Slinger does, so when he posted a new track on his Soundcloud. I was super stoked to check it out.

The first thing that stuck out for me was the voice.

She’s got a super catchy delivery with an authentic undercurrent of innocence. It kind of reminded a bit of Aluna Francis of Alunageorge. I liked it. I needed to investigate further.

I tracked down Izzy’s” Coolbeanz” EP on Soundcloud and was instantly transfixed. It’s incredible.

Izzy Bizu is the real deal. The backing instrumentation is fairly simple — just an acoustic guitar or keyboard backing her, but Izzy’s vocal delivery is so catchy and has so much character that nothing else really matters.

You can stream her entire EP on Soundcloud and I highly recommend you do that. “Butterfly”, “White Tiger”, “Fool’s Gold” and “High Road” are my faves.

And lest you think there’s some subtle studio trickery involved in her sound, here’s Izzy Bizu performing “White Tiger” live.

I’m looking forward to big, BIG, BIIIIIGGG  things from Izzy Bizu in 2014.