TSHA - OnlyL (EP) - Purple Vinyl

TSHA’s OnlyL arrived in August 2021 on Ninja Tune, a tight three track EP that captured the moment when dancefloors were blinking back to life and home-listening habits were hard to shake. The title track features London duo NIMMO and it did exactly what a great crossover club single should do. It glows, it aches a little, and it still hits when the kick comes in. No surprise it landed on the FIFA 22 soundtrack and found ears far beyond the usual electronic circles. If you were watching TSHA’s rise around then, OnlyL felt like the lightbulb blinking fully on.

The song starts with a bed of soft keys and a clean, forward house pulse, but the hook is all voice. NIMMO’s melody lifts without reaching for drama. The chords do the emotional heavy lifting in small moves, and the arrangement keeps breathing room so every snare and clap lands with purpose. There’s a point where the synths widen and you realize the track has been quietly building for minutes. That patience is TSHA’s signature. She writes club music that trusts arrangement and tone, not just drops. You can file it next to the best UK house of the past decade, but it never feels retro. It sounds like London in summer, windows open, bass humming in the distance.

Flip to Power and you get the bite. It is lean and percussive, the kind of cut DJs love because it gives a room direction. The low end is tight, the mids crackle with synth stabs that feel hand-played even if they aren’t. She lets motifs loop just long enough, then tucks in a new texture or ghost vocal to push you forward. It’s functional in the best way. You can build a set around it or just let it run while you cook and it still works. That balance is harder than it looks.

I Know rounds the EP with warmth. It slides into a more reflective mood, still four to the floor, but with a luminous, late-night glow. Pads swell, hi-hats tick, and the bassline moves with a calm confidence that makes the whole thing feel weightless. If OnlyL is the hands-in-the-air moment and Power is your route from warm-up to peak, I Know is the exhale. Sequenced together, the three tracks make a complete statement. No filler, no sketch ideas, just a concise snapshot of a producer finding her stride.

OnlyL also set the table for what came next. TSHA followed with her debut album Capricorn Sun in 2022, also on Ninja Tune, and you can hear the through-line. Melodic clarity. Percussion that feels tactile. Collaborations that serve the song. The NIMMO feature here isn’t a bolt-on pop move; it’s the spine of the title track. That instinct to treat vocals as part of the arrangement rather than a distraction is a big reason this EP still feels fresh.

If you’re digging for TSHA vinyl, the OnlyL vinyl is a smart pickup. It’s a 12 inch built for play, with tracks that carry on a system and still reward close listening at home. The title cut is a reliable crowd-pleaser, and the B-sides have the kind of extended intros and outros that DJs appreciate. If you buy TSHA records online, this one sits nicely next to her later releases, and it makes a strong case for grabbing more TSHA albums on vinyl while you’re at it.

There’s also the simple joy of how these songs sit in a room. They aren’t cluttered, so you hear the details: the air around the claps, the glide in a bass note, the way a vocal reverb tail feeds the next phrase. That attention to space helps explain why OnlyL crossed over to listeners who don’t think of themselves as club people. It’s approachable, but not watered down. It’s pop-adjacent, but still rooted in dance music’s fundamentals.

A few years on, OnlyL reads like the moment TSHA’s promise became obvious to just about everyone paying attention. Three tracks, no wasted motion, and a title song that still turns heads when it comes on. If you’re curating a small stack of modern house 12 inches, make room for this. It’s the kind of record you’ll keep in reach, ready for the next sunny afternoon or late-night reset.