In a world where art is compromised and commodified, shrunk down and boxed in, Vicktor Taiwo wants us to open up. The vibrant young singer-songwriter traffics in subtle hints and soaring melodies, slow creeps and grand climaxes. Taiw? is on a mission to collect something from himself, and it’s a journey worth following. His debut album, Joy Comes in Spirit, is at once experimental and comforting – collected shards of soul and style reassembled into something entirely new. The record introduces a bold new artist willing to take musical and lyrical risks, and to bare himself to an international audience. The result is an arresting, unforgettable work that shrugs off the expectations we have that musicians fit easily into recognisable molds. From Joy Comes in Spirit’s first note, Vicktor is mining his own psyche for its dark depths and hidden crevices, demanding from himself the sort of emotional reaction his work incites in others. Songs like Subducta. Psalm 69, a seven-minute, multi-part epic, echo contemporary hip-hop; tDS (Surf) seems designed to be sung around campfires in the distant future; Supernatural Women traces 808s and Heartbreak back to its Zappian roots. And Summon, one of the record’s highlights, is like if you trapped a troubled spirit in a GameBoy Colour.
