Mara Hoberman’s “Body Snatchers” (aka Masha) is a uniquely visceral, soul-sucking, sexually explicit love song to brain surgeons. “I’ll feed you body snatchers, baby, I’ll eat your brain”, she raps, “I’ll give you brain chips, baby”. Here, the thrill of the moment is replaced by the discomfort of her own body snapping into the mirror. “Bodies” and “Cats” are another pair of sexy covers, both of which carry the same sensualty without the ambiguously sexualised elements usually in a hiphop album. “Body Snatchers” is the more instrumental of the two, the latter with its desperate, repetitive vocals, which sound like a reflection of a gynaecological examination that could cure cancer.

To assess Hoberman’s career, we have to look at the broader context of her “Thrive” EP, a collaboration with the Warren Ellis. These songs are a perfect encapsulation of Hoberman’s deeply intimate, lyricistic approach to song. The lyrics are the unspoken, the subtle, the hidden under the surface, the songs that reveal the life-affirming moments of her life.

The two sides of the album – “Thrive” and “Black Panther” – are a perfect illustration of the record’s themes and themes of the subsequent three volumes. “Bodies” is a study in the individual, the moment of the vulnerability in the voice, the feeling of the sweat on the skin when the rapper is contemplating suicide, the way a subsection of the lyrics is layered on each other, the way the sound of the song is rewarded with a full-throated amen. “Body” is a heartbreaking confession of her own demons, the desire to control her body, the alcoholic magic of her relentless self-soothing, the voices of her children, and the songs that remind us that there’s more to life than music and drugs.

This is a powerful record, full of compassion, strength, and stories that transcend the usual discourse of female empowerment.