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Australia has a serious treasure at its disposal. Kofi Owusu-Ansah, known by his pseudonym Genesis Owusu, has been methodically moving up the music industry ranks since he debuted back in 2021. The dizzyingly diverse ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ proved to people who were clued in that Kofi was no mere novice. To arrive already so strongly-formed at that point in your career was promising, the next challenge was to capitalise, and ‘STRUGGLER’ did exactly that. Perhaps more stylistically uniform than its predecessor, it was nevertheless enthralling as a starkly produced synth-punk concept record pulling heavily from Frank Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’. It showed an attention to detail on the thematic side of things that made Owusu a clear all-rounder.
With this artistic trajectory in mind, ‘REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE’ sees Genesis Owusu widening his scope dramatically. Having already conquered the personally immediate, he now bestows the obligation upon himself to tackle the overtly political. The lead singles to this album indicated exactly this. “PIRATE RADIO” and “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE” approached far-right, fascist politicians and voters from slightly different angles, yet nevertheless elucidated the glaring issues with these people and their mindsets. The former in particular choosing outright violence, with bars as hilarious as they were confrontational. It had echoes of JPEGMAFIA’s earlier work on albums like ‘Black Ben Carson’ and ‘Veteran’, and the track’s droning vocal loop plus its industrial rawness further hint at some Peggy influence. The latter made excellent use of its wiry punk jaunt and mantra refrains to illustrate the maddening consequences of people drowning in their own dogma.
This single rollout seemed to happen in two distinct phases. The super muscular, upfront tracks got top priority, leading fans to expect Owusu would go purely no holds-barred. The second phase revealed something that was still very much keeping up the pace, but dialled things in significantly on the brash. “STAMPEDE” is like the goth side of post-punk getting itself into protest. Probably the most effectively dreary chorus on the record, it supports this dissonance of having “no time for the tact”, while it seems like others are perfectly content to stick to the status quo. The skittering, Gripsian digi-punk of “LIFE KEEPS GOING”, the final single for this album, highlights the almost Sisyphean paradox of existence. We are essentially doomed to keep fighting the same kinds of battles, as human nature and history is evidently cyclical. On the other hand though, it could just as easily be read as a hopeful ode to continuing on, and I think Owusu intentionally holds both of these meanings at the same time.
The deeper cuts continue to deliver the goods. “HELLSTAR”‘s sensual groove and beefy beats are the inaugural moment of pure funk on a Genesis Owusu album. It radiates a lustful heat, and these feelings are enhanced by verses describing romance amidst a chaotic world. It is one of the more consonant moments in the tracklist, where the music and the words dance in tandem with each other, chained by similar desires. The utterly intoxicating neo-soul of “BLESSED ARE THE MEEK” is juxtaposed by a rather urgent call-to-action. “It ain’t the time to hide, my brother; it’s time to be a man” Owusu croons in a D’Angelo-esque falsetto. It’s enticing, alluring, and essentially embodies the Bible quote that the title pulls from. Genesis clearly wants to balance the scales across the tracklist. Whether that’s in his fluctuating feelings towards societal scourges (as it were), or whether he’s employing stark tonal dichotomies to communicate yet another internal struggle with both the pursuit of liberation, as well as the personal desire to remain grounded.
Elsewhere on the album, Genesis is trying his hand at a total slam dunk on the most insane among us. “MOST NORMAL AMERICAN VOTER:” is the kind of first person satire that you might find on a ‘Cave World’-era Viagra Boys song, scored with some of the noisiest guitar-work across any project of his. The frenetic synth-punk energy and Owusu’s howled vocals is channelling a band like Algiers. Not an unlikely comparison, as their music also skews towards rampant activism and socio-political commentary. It is on-the-nose, to the point where maybe some fans may even be a little dismayed. Though clearly, the point of this track is not to make friends; at least not in the kinds of circles Owusu is parodying. The (sort of) title track functions as an overarching counterpart to this cut. It’s like the anger and frustration at witnessing the outcomes of these people’s decisions pouring out, completely tarring your view of the world. Easily his strongest lyrical showing yet, he is comprehensive in his disdain for not only other people’s prejudices, but also our collective inability to look inward.
The finish of this record is decidedly more chilled out by comparison, but packs a decent punch emotionally all the same. The continual passage of time gets to him on “RUNNIN OUTTA TIME”. It acts like a contrast to “LIFE KEEPS GOING”, in that it instead struggles with the daunting reality of mortality. The down-trodden, Peter Hook-esque lead melody further compliments Owusu’s tendencies towards the gothic, and only serves to magnify his macabre realisations. The strangely Porter Robinson-esque “BIG DOG” has its electronic whimsy balanced out by some of Owusu’s most braggadocious lyricism. It’s at this point in the album that Genesis hits an “I’m just doing me, step your game up” mindset. A mindset quickly followed by the closing declarations of “ONE4ALL”. “It’s the end of the party, pack your shit”, it’s spoken with the same authoritative confidence that Owusu has possessed his whole career, and his message of perseverance as life and society tries to drag you down echoes that of his last release. This time around though, the execution is a lot less metaphorical.
It’s fitting as a closer for “REDSTAR WU”, a significantly more blunt undertaking for Genesis. I mean, if you couldn’t figure out where he stood just from the initial teasers alone, you may be the kind of person he’s lumping in with this scourge. It’s totally necessary, at this point in the timeline, to be as overt as humanly possible. It’s why this album arrives when it does, when global violence is becoming increasingly prevalent, and is happening front-and-centre on our feeds. A wannabe fascist authoritarian is turning the temperature up on the threat of nuclear war. Israel continues to commit a *genocide* on the Palestinian people, and let’s be real, had already been soft launching this endeavour since they officially began occupying Palestine in 1948. The divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat has also never been wider. Yet, Genesis Owusu gladly puts his hand up to help lead the charge against the scourge, and to do so with a love for life that burns like a supernova (or a star, if you will). This is everything that made his debut and sophomore albums so outstanding, condensed into a passionately performed, fluidly paced, colourfully produced artistic statement; arguably his best album yet.
Dan Will Review 