- It’s true that the world “multi-talent” tends to lose meaning as we collectively spread ourselves more and more across various disciplines and interests, but every so often someone comes along who still feels markedly deserving of the word. Sydney-based OKENYO is that person - as a Playschool presenter she’s already conquered the archetypal Aussie dream job, as well as starred in, written and directed multiple theatre works, and with The Wave she executes a deft flourish on an already impressive musical output.
Gut-wrenching bass, pulsing production and insights that feel both once cool-handed and impossibly intimate are the tide pulling The Wave to its impressive heights. Co-produced and co-written by OKENYO and Lionel Towers (whose name may be familiar from his time as one half of indie-electro duo Gypsy & the Cat), the artist / actress’ debut EP is an exploration of personal vulnerabilities and contradictory (but beautiful) multitudes, wrought through lush, layered beats, slyly delivered bars and powerfully affecting vocals as varied in tone as human emotion. 20/20 is a fittingly circular, echoing portrait of hindsight that makes a refreshingly large amount of room for self-criticism and reflection, delivered with a regretful, then humbled cadence, while COME THROUGH is bold and commanding in its convictions that “this isn’t love”. Thumping, bass-heavy cut and notable highlight ISO drives relentlessly forward, “looking for the light” in a sea of darkness and ultimately finding it in a sweet, harmonious outro that asserts this was all just “a conversation I had to have with myself”.
2017 single WOMAN’S WORLD - which many listeners might know better in its 2.0 version, featured local powerhouses Miss Blanks and Jesswar and remains the anthem Australia - and the world at large - needs. OKENYO is in full control here, dictating the terms of her own success and rewriting the narrative in a way that flips existing power structures on their heads: “I’m a very busy woman with a lot on my plate / So you better eat it up before I take it away”. Before things get too universal, though, OKENYO conjures a heady dream of UTOPIA that ends abruptly with the sound of a single drop entering a larger body of water - a fitting reminder of our relative place in all this.
- Liz Ansley.