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 festival 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, including July single “Tied Up!”, especially when as he shifted from destruction to seduction with ease. It felt like we were watching several artists up on stage performing all at once.
That spectrum of the live show has translated well to the recorded medium, as it’s on full kaleidoscopic display in Owusu’s remarkable sophomore album STRUGGLER, which dropped over the summer via OURNESS / AWAL.
Owusu brings STRUGGLER and a growing reputation as an essential new artist to The Sinclair in Cambridge tonight (October 19), for a show that we hear is just about sold out. This will likely be the last time we’ll be able to catch him in a venue this intimate, and the evening has the makings of a transformative one. Don’t sleep.
GENESIS OWUSU + GODLY THE RULER :: Thursday, October 19 at The Sinclair, 52 Church St. in Cambridge, MA :: 7 p.m., 18-plus, $25 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
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