You are Spring! opens with a latticed wall of sound, acapella vocals layered in lush harmony, singing the semi-eponymous Spring. Immediately, Tasha spirits us away from dull, gray winter into a world replete with images and sensations of new life. Think: a riot of bell shaped blooms; blush and citrine and butter yellow; the sky a clear, lungful of blue; warmth, everywhere, kissing skin overwintered and longing for touch; ease after suffering; a deep breath after suffocating. “Don’t die now / There’s life to be found now,” she begins. In lyrics inspired by Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem To The Young Who Want To Die, Tasha enunciates the thesis of this album with exquisite precision.There are seasons of harshness, seasons of difficulty, yes. But, here, in this album, we meditate on spring--on a season of celebration, made all the sweeter because we know what one must endure to get there. “Alive now / It’s spring now / Alive now / You’re spring now,” she closes, borne aloft by the velvety voices of Jamila Woods and Taja Cheek of L’Rain featured on this track, inviting us into the edenic jewel box that she’s created here. For Tasha, spring is a place we arrive, but it’s also a state we’re in, a way we’ve become. When discussing what she hopes the album conveys, she further expounds on the meaning of Spring, saying “it’s a way to say you are the thing that other people are looking forward to; you are the thing we’re waiting for; you are the beautiful thing.” If the previous album was about yearning, of stretching toward an abundance you know is coming, then You are Spring! is a chance to pause and take it all in once you have stepped into your fullness.
