JOBA is a 31 year old rapper, producer, singer/songwriter & audio engineer from Houston, Texas notable for being a founding member of the now defunct BROCKHAMPTON collective. The debut single “Sad Saturdays” back in 2015 should also be noted as really the only time we’ve heard what he’s capable of musically doing on his own & coming off a production credit on Ski Mask the Slump God’s sophomore effort 11th Dimension this summer, we’re getting a better look as to who he is on his full-length solo debut.

“Ghost” starts us off by singing about a ghost he saw & asked what the problem was over bare pianos whereas “Embryo” takes the exuberantly futuristic route instrumentally further employing a melodic delivery expressing his desire of wanting to be with his romantic interest. “American Fever” pulls from progressive pop, piano rock & art pop to sing about every single one of us being born to be wild in some way, but then the magical “Emerald Eyes” tells us of his amazement over this individual.

As for “Lonestar”, we have JOBA hopping over more colorful production singing his heart out that he’s standing his own ground even after BROCKHAMPTON’s dissolvement leading into the guitar-driven “Doormat” knowing everything will work out in the end & wanting his partner’s love. “New Beginnings” cheerfully talks about starting anew at this point in his career while “People Need People” mixes baroque pop, piano rock & psychedelic pop longing to be his lover’s soulmate. “Gospel of the Moon” closes the LP by singing that all he feels is concrete tears.

Matt Champion’s solo debut Mika’s Laundry from earlier in the year was a fantastic representation of his artistic versatility & Russell Boring takes that to different heights except it’s much more personal conceptually. His production culminates in the styles of art pop, art rock, piano rock, progressive pop & baroque pop spending the 9 song offering spanning a tad bit over a half hour in his personal life.

Score: 4/5

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