Anyone who caught Genesis Owusu’s spellbinding performance at Boston Calling — and there was no reason not to, as we highly recommended it — were treated to perhaps the best set of the entire weekend. The Ghanaian-Australian artist came out of the Blue Stage gate swinging with breakout electro-funk hit and SOTY contender “Leaving The Light”, and never looked back over an eclectic and electric 45 minutes. But what really stood out was the spectrum of sounds in Owusu’s sonic arsenal, especially when as he shifted from destruction to seduction with ease.
Today (July 12) Owusu drops “Tied Up!”, another black-neon track from his forthcoming sophomore album, STRUGGLER, out August 18 via OURNESS / AWAL, and it finds him putting the funk ahead of electro with similarly dazzling results.
Effortlessly cool, “Tied Up!” reflects a message at the core of the album’s mindset, and that’s “the struggle of getting by in an uneasy world, and holding onto oneself in the process.” It was produced by Sol Was (Beyoncé’s Renaissance) and Henry Was (Justin Jay, Thumpasaurus), and swings into our summer vibe with a video that find Owusu in the boxing ring, in collaboration with New Zealand’s Aotearoa visual artist Lisa Reihana.
“The Roach continues to run through an absurd world, trivially trying to make sense of it,” Owusu says. “Maybe looking internally, focusing inward instead of outward, will provide some guidance? Who knows.”
What we do know is that Genesis Owusu is a god damn force. Get into “Tied Up!” below, and peep his full run of North American dates, including a highly recommended October 19 bash at The Sinclair in Cambridge.
Genesis Owusu 2023 North American Tour
October 12: Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
October 13: Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
October 14: Ferndale, MI – The Loving Touch
October 15: Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Music Hall
October 17: Toronto, ON – The Velvet Underground
October 18: Montreal, QC – Le Studio TD
October 19: Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
October 20: Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
October 21: Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
October 25: Washington, DC – Union Stage
October 27: Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre
October 28: Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
October 29: Nashville, TN – The Basement East
October 31: Austin, TX – Empire Control Room & Garage
November 01: Dallas, TX – The Studio at The Factory
November 03: Denver, CO – Globe Hall
November 06: Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
November 07: San Francisco, CA – The Independent
November 09: Seattle, WA – Neumos
November 10: Portland, OR – Star Theatre
November 11: Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre