2024 was a big year for the EveryDejaVu blog. It was my first full year as its managing editor and the first year since our 2022 relaunch that we posted consistently, offering two—sometimes even three—articles weekly. 102 reviews and 12 interviews to be exact. This year, we had the help of 25 contributors from all over the world to cover artists we believe are making interesting sounds, but wouldn’t necessarily receive mass media praise. There’s something for everyone; post-punk, rap, noise, electronic, shoegaze, jazz, and art-pop. To celebrate the year we had, we asked a few of our frequent writers to choose their favorite projects released in 2024.
Boy Deco – Real Sugar
Composer, analog aficionado, and lo-fi beatmaker Joseph Briggs’s musical moniker is Boy Deco, and he’s one of those artistic gems from Los Angeles who deserve a little more screen time. He bends and breaks synths to perfection, using the pitch shifter like a ladle to stir the tastiest sonic broth. It’s no wonder most listeners melt into their couches when hearing “90s Girl”—the innate sunniness, the free-flowing breeziness of his music is extremely hard to resist (and why would you want to?). Specifically, this song ends with a lovely little understated crescendo, one that’s not loud and obnoxious like a billboard chart-topper, but a thoughtful and creatively dynamic decision that is a breath of fresh air. Then there’s “Real Sugar,” which has a little vocal sample that simply repeats, “An amazing discovery,” and damn, ain’t that the truth. Boy Deco is an amazing discovery through and through. On the song “Cowboy,” he sings, “Red in the face, thinking of you, strut like a cowboy, never in town boy, all you do.” It’s a playfully melancholic track that masterfully exhibits his tongue-in-cheek approach to the genre. The title track, “Real Sugar,” would have to be the standout song on this release—it’s dancey, tightly produced, and filled to the brim with joyous loving. —Rohit Bhattacharya
indigo forever – Self-Titled
One of the few artists off this list that I’ve had the chance to see live, indigo forever makes self-identified “emo dance music.” The electronic group is composed of artist wsteaway, or Tea, and producer Wxmell. Their music is upbeat, undeniably joyful in its manic energy and constant allusions to internet culture. These two creatives came together to expand past their typical genres of electronic and rock, respectively, as well as experiment with their artist personas. This album specifically features their characters – Gen and iRi – as visual representations of this very personal album. With an album so focused on relationships and how to navigate them, these characters work as relatable guideposts to lead listeners through what lyrically turns into a very impactful project, for audiences and artists alike. —Izzy Astuto
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD“
For those who love ambitious, instrumental art-rock, NO TITLE will prove a must-listen. For those who view such music as their worst nightmare, they should prepare to be converted. NO TITLE is a masterpiece, discussing it is that simple. Even when it is relying simply on a single electric guitar, as it does for the first two minutes or so of its opener “SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS,’’ Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s music feels unshakably colossal in scale. When you add to that weeping, mournful guitar playing the cacophony of thoughtfully arranged sounds that appear in the climactic moments of a song like “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD,” it becomes impossible not to be moved.
Through impeccably restrained musicianship which impressively maintains the sense of being unkempt, unrefined and in-the-moment, Godspeed You!’s 54 minutes of large scale art-rock is consistently flooring mostly due to its willingness to be so daring and uncompromising. It is its smaller moments, its quiet surprises, that make it such an impactful listen; flourishes like the vocal sample on “RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD” that suddenly pull the listener out of the overwhelming soundscape, or the same track’s opening which allows almost a full minute for quiet contemplation aided by mellow bleeping or chirping. Moving from sounds that are apocalyptic, bleak and unbearably intense to these unexpectedly soothing breaks only serves to emphasize the major power of both sides of the album, allowing it to become emotionally crushing. Stylish, versatile and deeply melancholic, NO TITLE is an arrestingly beautiful and impressively expansive experience. —Reece Beckett
SALIMATA – Wooden Floors
When Oscar nomination season rolls around, it truly feels like there’s some recency bias afoot with all the movies from November and December being up for nominations. A movie that’s released at the beginning of the year has to be strong enough to stay in the memory of the academy voters, something as large as Dune 2. That’s how I feel about Brooklyn rapper SALIMATA’s Wooden Floors, released back in February, that has the charismatic energy needed to be remembered for end-of-year awards. SALIMATA herself is a force that brings that New York braggadocia over soulful production from DJ Noon, Velvetian Sky, Chef-Lee, and others. While the wall crushing opening lines of the album, “Get my nails done, when the day’s done. Smooth walker, call me pantheress” hooked me in originally, what keeps me coming back to this is the way the Brooklyn rapper brings us into her life and her ability to be candid with heavier topics such as the responsibility she feels to her mom on “Only Daughter.”
The album, which is inspired by the infamous Tom Cruise sock sliding scene from Risky Business, ends on its highest note with the Velvetian Sky-produced “u kno who u are,” featuring fellow Brooklynite, MIKE. Of course, MIKE’s verse is incredible, but the energetic confidence from both rappers, as well as the simple dueted hook, is so infectious that as soon as the track ends, it has me running the whole album back again just to keep that feeling alive. —Ryan Magnole
The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy
Prelude to Ecstasy invites you to take a seat at The Last Dinner Party’s opulent table and indulge in their expansive menu of sounds. The quintet’s debut album blends alternative, glam rock, and baroque influences with a theatrical twist, serving up a fearless display of sonic creativity and emotional vulnerability. From ABBA-esque synth and ecstatic guitar solos to tender flute and sultry piano, the album oozes with explosive emotions and dramatic flair. What stands out the most is perhaps the opening title track: “Prelude to Ecstasy” is a full orchestral arrangement written by vocalist and keyboardist Aurora Nishevci, a flourishing overture that features grandiose strings, percussion, and a harp. It’s a brilliantly bold introduction to the album, and indeed the band themselves, as The Last Dinner Party launch us straight into a plush red chair at the front of their theatre, playfully lifting the curtain on an extravagant twelve-song performance that takes us from the sapphic shadows of Catholic school to the wistful frustrations of heteronormativity to the alienation of not knowing your mother tongue. The band isn’t afraid to dive into topics of grief, gender, and strained relationships, but they don’t overly dwell on them either. Despite being packed with some heavy lyrics—from the intricacies of mother-daughter relations in “The Feminine Urge” to haunting reflections on the male gaze in “Mirror”—Prelude to Ecstasy ultimately triumphs as a body of work that is fanciful and fun, retaining a degree of earnestness through the authenticity of its subject matter. —Emily Whitchurch
Neon Kittens – White Dopes On Punk
Neon Kittens is a post-punk band constantly putting out music yet they remain a total mystery, which only adds to their allure. In 2024 alone, they released two albums, five EPs, and four double singles resulting in a hell of a lot of no wave noise. But Neon Kittens is actually from York, UK, not New York, New York. Still, they’re mastering the avante-garde-influenced genre with grating riffs, gritty feedback, and cool girl vocals. Due to their multiple projects from this year, it was hard to choose a favorite, but White Dopes On Punk serves as a nice introduction—5 minutes of chaos in 4 quick songs, just do your ears a favor and don’t put the audio too loud. —Madison Bulnes
Isaac Dunbar – Beep Beep Repeat
Isaac Dunbar has been one of my most consistent ties to the pop genre since 2019, when discovering his first album balloons don’t float here. I’m constantly craving new groovy tracks from Dunbar due to his easy confidence and diva tendencies. His voice is so addictively dramatic, full of theatre kid-esque over pronunciation I too notice myself slipping into. His music is effortlessly glamorous, and this album is no exception. Simple experiences that most can relate to in some regard — living in an apartment or posing for a photoshoot — are turned into the scandalous adventures with lucious instrumentals. Every little moment is taken advantage of, like reacting to a lost wallet by “kiss[ing] the bitch who stole it.” From electronic club hits to retrospective power ballads, this album has a little bit of everything that Isaac Dunbar is so well-known for. —Izzy Astuto
It would have been more than enough for Mancunian art-rock band Maruja to have released Connla’s Well in 2024 and then bided their time until at least this year before releasing more music, the EP proving strong enough by itself to make this list. The group clearly disagreed, deciding together to follow up the chaotic brilliance of their terrific release with an astounding ninety minutes of previously unreleased music just a couple of months later—music which they called “Maruja in its purest form” in their Bandcamp description of the record.
Where Connla’s Well relied more upon the severity and moodiness of lead vocalist Harry Wilkinson’s provocative lyrics to create vivid images and a sense of cohesion amidst its (carefully controlled) disarray, The Vault sees the group hone in on creating immersive, lengthy instrumental pieces full of surprising shifts, improvisation and repetition (again, their Bandcamp explains that their approach to creating music is “from improvising together… Jamming is a place where we can completely let go and unleash our emotions sonically”). While it is a shame that these songs are recorded on a phone—even if it does lend the music a certain well-suited ruggedness—the group achieve something truly special with these two releases, tackling their output from two starkly different angles and proving that they can create excellent music either way. An eventual studio album from these up-and-comers seems destined to pack an unforgettable punch. —Reece Beckett
Blu & Bombay – Back Home Again
At the top of the year, prolific underground LA rapper Blu released 12 albums onto streaming platforms ranging from California Soul, his infamous never-before-released first album, to demo versions, remixes, and bonus tracks from albums of his from the past two decades. It felt like Christmas after Christmas getting to hear things on streaming platforms for the first time like God is Good and bonus tracks from that time period (2008-2012) that were released as loose tracks on MySpace or as part of early Soul Amazing tapes, as well as hearing the rugged “Blu versions” of tracks from his 2021 album The Color Blu(e). I wish I had the writing bug when all these albums came out because I could go on for paragraphs about each release, where I was when I originally heard the York remixes, and how sometimes I think Blu’s demos are better than the polished versions, but for this list, I wanted to focus on and include an album, or collection of music, that hadn’t been heard before, Back Home Again, by Blu & Bombay.
Back Home Again serves as tracks that didn’t find a place on the 2014 double album release, Good To Be Home, from Blu and fellow LA native and early collaborator of Blu (of which we finally get to hear their earliest collaborations on the album originally from 2003, California Soul that I mentioned before), Bombay. Similarly to Good To Be Home, this project has a lofi mask over chopped soul samples that plays as an ode to a tape playing out of a Chevrolet’s sound system while basking in the sun of LA. Not speaking of the geographical references or the obvious pun, but Blu really feels at home on Bombay’s gritty production (it’s pretty insane how even the remix version of Good To Be Home sounds so refreshing and good). The drums are really light and the low ends of the samples provide most of the groove, but this also opens space for Blu to channel his best swagger, street-fueled persona which fills out the energy of the tracks perfectly. Despite a Diddy line that didn’t age too well, “The Loop” is fiery and is a love song to the euphoric feeling of finding the perfect loop from a sample. But “The Crown” is what will keep me coming back for years to come, as it feels reminiscent of the early Blu I fell in love with: the bluesy vocal melodies over the crunchy warmth of the vocal sample that plays its inclusion in the song perfectly. —Ryan Magnole
The band—made of Jamie Zimmer on vocals, Sam Jones on drums, Mayya Feygina on bass, Fabrizio Incerti on guitar, Adam Wilson on synth, Karina Alterman on saxophone, Charles Ryan on trumpet, and Saam Khanzadeh on congas—describe themselves as making ‘dreamy dance music,’ and that’s spot on. A few minutes into their songs, your pupils turn to shiny disco balls, rollerskating through a kaleidoscope of afros and bellbottoms. With an entire artillery of spirited instrumentation available at their tippy-toes, it’s no wonder their songs are so bouncy. Such a large ensemble has the potential to go terribly wrong, like a marching band on crack. However, these guys are a cohesive unit that knows what they want to put out, and that’s dance music that combines the effortless cool of electro with the frenetic vitality of African rhythms.
Essentially, Mild Universe occupies the corridors of Afrobeat and disco. On several of the songs, the iconic guitar sound on Parliament Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” seems to be a major influence, dialing up the jam to levels so funky even a durian would stand at attention. Certain songs start mellow, using chimes and xylos to lull the listener into an REM-sleep haze, before pimp-slapping you right in the mug (looking at you, “Infinite Chance”) while others, such as “Everything Must Change,” maintain a stable and solid flow throughout, incorporating the horns and synths for a reliable track that mirrors the album’s name. Merging the best of past and future, Everything Must Change crafts the ultimate dance tapestry, with tight musicianship and impeccable production to boot. The album is a testament to the band’s ability to transport you through space, time, and sound; all while keeping your feet firmly on the dance floor. —Rohit Bhattacharya
Retrograde88 – Self-Titled
Retrograde88 is possibly my favorite Boston-based band, and is another group I’ve had the honor of getting to see live a handful of times. I’m a sucker for shoegaze and Retrograde88 has been able to transition this genre in such a modern way, while still maintaining the basis of its conventions. I’ve been awaiting an official release of their music for a couple of years now, so I’m very excited for this collection of many of my favorite songs of theirs! For a group formed at Berklee College of Music, with members still at the college, the band’s instrumentals rival more established groups with an expert control over the use of their otherworldly synth. While listening to the album, the sound mixing probably is the thing that stands out the most, though, as both the vocals and instrumentals can be heard so clearly. The band’s lead singer, Francesca Londano, (also known by her solo artist name, Fayluna) doesn’t hold back with her angelic vocals, but they never overpower the strong basslines, or vice versa. This album is a true testament to student musicians, and can serve as easy inspiration for any other young artists. —Izzy Astuto
Exploring the liminal space between death and rebirth, Black Bordello provide an electrifying mix of thought-provoking lyricism and horror film-esque instrumentals in their sophomore album, White Bardo. Its title references the intermediate state of existence between death and rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism; a liminal space where consciousness is freed from its physical body, suspended between past and future. Packed with rich storytelling, ghostly murmurs, and dazzling guitar riffs, White Bardo’s nine songs sound as though a church choir rehearsal has been interrupted by an experimentalist avant-pop concert. “Love is a Joke” strips romance back to its rawest form—something addictive, possessive, divine— as lush psychedelic tones are interwoven with layers of ethereal vocals. Its lyrics are strikingly poetic: “The clouds have cloaked us / Acid rain burns / We shower together / In chasmal beauty / As we say the words / We meet here in Heaven.” Merging the earthly with the heavenly, lead singer Sienna Bordello depicts love at its most primal and awe-inspiring, destructive yet devout; the subjects of the song lie together, nestled deep in the crux of the Earth as they are consumed by the elements and surrender to the afterlife. At its core, White Bardo is both frightening and freeing as its sounds ebb and flow between the angelic chancel of a church, the sweaty pit of a post-punk gig, and the decadent drama of the theatre. The Bardo becomes a place of catharsis and liberation, something to be embraced rather than feared, as Black Bordello grapples with vast themes of mortality and modernity without being tied down by genre. —Emily Whitchurch
While a significant amount of the most impressive music of 2024 emphasized scale through sound, Singapore rapper Mary Sue managed to strike a similar emotional chord by doing the very opposite. Mary Sue, lovingly called Sue by his listeners, has so far defined his career with a penchant for creating intimacy with his audience. His music is always raw and open, his bleeding heart visible (and audible) from afar as he tackles difficult personal problems such as self-hatred, inertia and, seemingly, his grandmother’s struggle with dementia. Atop an exciting collection of relaxed beats influenced by Nujabes, Sue’s flows are smooth and calm, his lyrics introspective and quietly hopeful. It is precisely the way that Sue’s personality comes through in his music that makes Casper’s Glove so endearing and so moving, as a song like “Numbers” eases into optimistic lines which position Sue as the only person who can achieve peace for himself, as someone willing to fight with his traumas in order to overcome them.
Casper’s Glove is never naive, though. It is an album specifically about the difficulty of finding hope amidst personal difficulties, and it matches that theme in its sleepy sound which comes across as both pleasingly mellow and quietly depressing. Casper’s Glove may only be 11 minutes long but it carries weight regardless. It is a deeply moving EP full of beautiful beats tinged with a touching sadness crammed between meaningful, emotive lyricism. The production is clean and cohesive, merging chipmunk soul with the style of beat-making popularized in underground rap by New York’s sLUms collective as Mary Sue finds ways to craft a delicate sound that is entirely his own. —Reece Beckett
Pretty V – Papa Smoke
Pretty V’s output in 2024 makes it insanely difficult to focus on one release to include on this list. The UK artist (who I know from his collaborations with Archy Marshall aka King Krule and Jadaesa) releases music quicker than the ideas have time to settle in. There are new tracks that pop up on streaming sometimes a few times a week, as well as other tracks popping up on his SoundCloud and YouTube. The unedited, raw charisma of these songs are what make a project like Papa Smoke so fascinating. Each song feels like a vignette into an idea that if polished would ruin the sort of spontaneous aura it carries. “Fall” is a gleeful joyride of a rap song with an infectious synthesizer lead, but most of all it has the catchiest few layers of background vocals (think: “oooOOOooo”) that really fill out the character of this song. Throughout this collection of songs, there’s a few moments of whiplash where the flow will switch from blow-your-speakers-out trap music to singer-songwriter songs like “My bbyyyyyyyyyyy,” a short lullaby like song (dedicated to his sister) with beautiful picked guitar and soft vocals. Then there’s songs such as “I’m Always Dreaming, Drama Queen” that combine Pretty V’s guitar, with his ability to create the perfect loop, and his affinity for fuzzy textures. I get trapped in the way the guitar has these distorted low ends that are tough to contain within the mix, while the high end melody pinches through to dance around Smokesito’s (one of his many pseudonyms) under-his-breath vocals. —Ryan Magnole
Cheekface – It’s Sorted
One of my favorite genres of music is an annoying-sounding guy talking over a sick guitar track. While I don’t want to make any character judgments on Cheekface’s lead singer, their instrumentals certainly hold up! Cheekface reminds me of an angstier, younger CAKE, with lyricism that honestly reminds me of Car Seat Headrest. This Los Angeles based indie rock trio is addictive once you catch onto their lyrics, chanting along like a true “Cheek Freak” (their fan bases’ self-given nickname). Cheekface seems aware of other popular talk-singing groups with this album, taking their typical conventions and spinning them in a very modern way, with constant pop culture references and clever turns of phrase. In my favorite song, “Popular 2,” for example, we get the story of a self-conscious agoraphobe, obsessive about his image “in the movie you put on from the camera on your porch.” Each song is a rich, self-contained story, rife with clever social commentary. —Izzy Astuto
Avantdale Bowling Club – “LIVE” II
It is impossible to describe the brilliance of New Zealand rapper Tom Scott’s soulful jazz rap project Avantdale Bowling Club. Scott constantly finds new ways to elevate his work and he proves this ability (again) with LIVE II, the group’s second collection of live recordings and their most recent outing. While the first LIVE release saw the jazz in jazz-rap emphasized like never before and contained the group’s debut album from start to finish, LIVE II is more adventurous from its opening second, punctuated by a reverb-heavy guitar which paves the way for almost ninety minutes of incredibly passionate rap and exciting, high energy instrumental work.
The first track alone, a rendition of the group’s most recently released song “Pusherman,” has enough depth and liveliness to serve as a standout work of art in and of itself, but Scott and his impressive group of musicians spend the rest of this immersive, adventurous live album consistently finding ways to take their established sound and tinker with it. Scott’s lyrics are as intricate and political as ever, so much so that he jokes about spending “five more minutes” performing another piece of “financial rap jazz music… it’s a f*cking economics lecture!” before launching himself into “Pocket Lint”, one of the group’s sharpest and most electrifying songs.
Masterfully ordered, brought to life by wicked live musicianship and culminating in an extended reference to Gil Scott Heron followed by a heart-breakingly raw spoken word finale as Scott turns his lines themselves into literary weaponry for the final verse of “Home,” LIVE II is exciting, wildly intelligent and seriously sprightly across its full 84 minute length. —Reece Beckett
Florence Rose – My Lust Is My Religion
Having established herself as a rising star on film and modeling sets, Florence Rose has created her own sumptuous sonic wonderland with debut album My Lust Is My Religion. Rose draws on a wide range of influences from alt-pop to trip-hop, culminating in eight captivating tracks that unearth the obsessive, desperate feelings we often try to push down. As the album’s title elucidates, religion serves as a thought-provoking medium for Rose to dive deeper into feelings of devotion that border on devoutness. These feelings are explored most explicitly in the achingly somber “God Knows,” which opens with melancholic guitar strums and languid beats resembling Ethel Cain’s early ambient alt-pop. “I’d sacrifice myself for you / God knows that I tried / God knows that I’ve died / I’ve tried,” Rose sings plaintively—longing to be loved, she floats effortlessly between high and low notes in an entirely raw and vulnerable way. However, while painful, the undercurrent of quiet birdsong and ocean waves at the beginning of the track reminds us that these emotions are natural, and ought to be embraced rather than evaded. With lo-fi dream pop and trip-hop sounds synthesized by Rose’s clear aesthetic vision, My Lust Is My Religion is a dazzling, dramatic debut release. Though lust is traditionally associated withsinfulness, the album title pairs it directly with religion; meanwhile, faith is often about seeking guidance or solace from something greater than ourselves. Therefore, while seemingly oxymoronic, My Lust Is My Religion affirms the liberation that can be found by returning to our obsessive, primal, and devotional feelings. —Emily Whitchurch
Skinshape – Another Side Of Skinshape
Skinshape aka Will Dorey’s laidback tunes invoke a sense of wistful contentedness, like a magical day that you wish you could freeze in time. The London-based musician is as adept at crafting sinfully smooth guitar parts as he is at laying down complex drum machine samples. There’s an infinitesimally calming aura to this copulation-conducive collection of tracks that’s hard to achieve, considering the wide range of genres being covered. Hypnotic psychedelia reigns supreme on tracks like, “Stornoway” and “How Can It Be?” while ethio-jazz mixes with a world of cosmic sounds on “Mulatu of Ethiopia.”
However, Dorey’s talents especially stand out on the track, “Ananda.” His Bandcamp states that the album “takes inspiration from childhood memories, Ethiopian rhythms, and calls to prayer.” “Ananda,” with its syncopated percussions and dreamlike flow, is testament to that. The ethereal languor of “Massaka” is a necessary balm for the senses before the acid-tinged experimentalness of “There’s Only Hoping” comes through. On the whole, there’s something for everyone on this album. —Rohit Bhattacharya
King Krule – SHHHHHHH!
The isolating loneliness of King Krule’s 2023 album Space Heavy made it one of the most potent records of the year. Thankfully, frontman Archy Marshall wasn’t finished with that project following its release, and decided to release a further four songs this year as a complementary bonus.
Containing four singles previously only accessible via a (very) limited edition vinyl release, SHHHHHHH! is an extension of the deep sadness of Space Heavy explored through a variety of styles not seen or fully realized on the initial album. For such a brief release, it suggests the influence of a rich variety of genres from punk (on “Time For Slurp”) to jazz (a gorgeous saxophone solo elevates “Whaleshark” from very good to great) to trip-hop and electro, making the most of Krule’s usual chameleonic genre-hopping.
Culminating in “It’s All Soup Now,” one of the most effective and experimental King Krule songs in recent memory (as well as one of the most lyrically dense, thanks to the repeated poetic lines and their lack of definitive meaning), the EP is as compact as it is impactful. That final track is abstract and viscerally gutting, its lyrics opaque and distant but the emotions sharply at the surface. —Reece Beckett
070 Shake – Petrichor
I had never really listened to 070 Shake before this album. I had heard the name, but I didn’t think her music would be really “for me.” Oh how wrong I was, and how happy I am to be wrong! This has quickly become one of my most played albums of the last month, simply due to Shake’s vulnerability in her lyrics. Don’t get me wrong — musically, this is also a masterpiece. Particularly in “Lungs”, Shake’s willingness to go buckwild with the soundscapes of her projects, refusing to just stick with traditional production techniques, creates a truly unique listening experience. I felt my own lungs contracting with hers as the music pulsed throughout the track. I also think that Petrichor has one of the most iconic, (if not slightly baffling) features of this year, with Courtney Love on “Song to the Siren.” But Shake also really opens up on this album, deeply honest about her relationship and this time in her life. Especially considering how public her love life is—the curse of being Lily-Rose Depp’s girlfriend—the emotions throughout feel genuinely authentic. —Izzy Astuto
shemar & Child Actor – sunscreen
Child Actor had a hell of a year, producing for Navy Blue, Previous Industries, ELUCID, Armand Hammer, among others, as well as entirely producing the recently released collaboration with Cavalier, CINE. Most of this work was in consideration in some form for best hip-hop of the year, but I think his collaboration with a shemar, sunscreen, is the gem that has sparkled more and more as the year has gone on. shemar is a rapper, producer, and poet from Brooklyn who is the most seasoned and lyrically mature up and comers I’ve heard in a bit and showcases his undeniable ‘it’ factor on this project. With only six tracks, shemar is able to bring you into his world with autobiographical poems riddled with introspection, nostalgic memory, and comradery (as showcased with the features of his friends on the project). Over Child Actor’s lush, soulful production, shemar has a voice with such a strong presence (I mean, c’mon, do you hear the way he ends the record with that acapella “shatterrrrr”) and executes his raps at 110% with lines like “I was doing more than filling a void. Killing time, monochrome roads” (from “Essex st (footprints)).” shemar makes every moment count on this record, with every moment of self-discovery lingering even after listening. I can’t wait to hear more from him. —Ryan Magnole
