Genesis Owusu goes new-wave on groovy new single ‘Get Impressed’
Genesis Owusu has returned together with his second new single for the yr: a cool new tune titled ‘Get Impressed’, which appears to see the genre-bending artist faucet right into a sound impressed by ‘80s and ‘90s new-wave.
The music is unmistakably Owusu’s, shining with a driving beat and playful, rhythmic cadence (produced by Dann Hume and Andrew Klippel) paying homage to ‘Smiling With No Enamel’ cuts like ‘The Different Black Canine’ and ‘Black Canine!’ – the latter of which additionally drew affect from acts of the ‘80s and ‘90s, albeit largely from the punk style – over which the artist sings with a pointy, quasi-rapped circulate.
Hovering over a refined but impactful bassline, Owusu sings: “Cliché, your face not making {dollars}, child, it’s not making sense / The way you choosy together with your artwork when you possibly can’t even pay your lease? / Shift for years and years and years however appears you haven’t made a dent / All that dream and shit you chasing confirmed its face then got here and went.”
The music builds with vivid guitars and warbly synths, peaking with sirenesque wails earlier than Owusu dips right into a falsetto breakdown. Have a hearken to it beneath:
‘Get Impressed’ follows on from ‘GTFO’, which Owusu dropped again in July as the primary single indifferent from the ‘Smiling With No Enamel’ period. That album – Owusu’s debut full-length effort – arrived final March through Ourness, and alongside ‘The Different Black Canine’, featured singles like ‘Don’t Want You’, ‘Whip Cracker’, ‘I Am’, ‘Gold Chains’ and ‘A Track About Fishing’.
In a four-star overview of the album – which might go on to win two J Awards, 4 ARIAs and final yr’s Australian Music Prize – NME’s Cyclone Wehner referred to as ‘Smiling With No Enamel’ “a riveting album that underscores the ability of self-knowledge, perspective and artwork”. It additionally topped NME’s lists of final yr’s finest Australian albums and finest debut albums, and earned Owusu the 2022 BandLab NME Award for Finest Album By An Australian Artist.
A deluxe version of ‘Smiling With No Enamel’ arrived final July, with singles from it together with ‘Identical Factor’ and ‘The Fall’. Across the similar time, Owusu featured on singles by PRICIE (‘Friendzone’) and Anna Lunoe (‘Again Seat’), whereas over the previous yr, he’s linked up with the likes of Winston Surfshirt (for ‘There’s Solely One’), Tasman Keith (‘Cheque’) and Agung Mango (‘GUAP POP’).
Owusu is at present on the highway with Tame Impala, opening for his or her ‘Rushium’ tour of Australian arenas. Subsequent month, he’ll carry out on the inaugural Harvest Rock competition in Adelaide, earlier than delivering units all dates on the touring Spilt Milk and Falls festivals, and Misplaced Paradise on the NSW Central Coast. Yesterday (October 20), it was introduced that he’d additionally seem at subsequent yr’s WOMADelaide competition.