ALBUM REVIEW - GHOSTPOET - Shedding Skin

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Obaro Ejimiwe, otherwise known as Ghostpoet, recently released his latest album, Shedding Skin. The album signals a significant change and a stray away from the music that has been produced from his previous albums. The two records in question (Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam and Some Say I So I Say Light) delivered a blend of string sounds mixed with harsh beats. This latest records seems to shrug these origins and move in a new direction; a full band sound.

The first track on the album, ‘Off Peak Dreams’, is the closest resemblance to the old style of Ghostpoet, one could argue. The song follows a rolling beat and harmonizes together beautifully with piano riffs. ‘Be Right Back, Moving House’ is the first noticeable stray away from Ghostpoet’s style of music. ‘Better Not Butter’ also follows suit – it could be said that this new style of music does not settle well with the image that has already been created by Ghostpoet’s style of music, and that this new direction could be directive rather than a step forward. Admiration is deserved for Ghostpoet trying a new style and stepping away from his self created norm, but the execution can be questioned.

The lyric style has also been altered somewhat. He has toned down some of his smarter wordplay and savvy puns, that arguably led to his Mercury music prize win, this time the band is allocated a large sum of the talking. Shedding Skin seems to be the solution to a problem that was never present in the first place. An artist would usually try to move in a new direction or style when the music being produced is not going over as well as intended. However, Ghostpoet has had a significant amount of success from his previous two albums so this new direction is baffling.

This being said, Ghostpoet and this album are still a very lovably entity. The new sound style, although questionable, is still a positive step forward and shows that he is willing to change his style to perhaps reach a larger audience. It does excite me and I believe it will leave others excited for what the future holds for Ghostpoet.

Shedding Skin is out now via Play It Again Sam.