Genesis OwusuGenesis Owusu has become a household name over the years off the back of award-winning albums Smiling With No Teeth and STRUGGLER. He’s developed a lyrical style that brings to the fore a sense of urgency neatly wrapped in a polished expression.
Hit songs like Get Inspired and Don’t Need You showcased this, juxtaposed against driving basslines and funk-based rhythm sections. There is a depth and complexity to his existing discography that has translated into an international following.
But his latest LP is a step-up in lyricism and melody that traverses sonic territory as diverse as the experience possible of a modern human. The opening track of REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE, the furious PIRATE RADIO, slaps the audience into a tornado of synth-oriented frenzy.
As the refrain “pyscho-somatic blowing out your brain” holds an echoing and eery lingering in the middle distance, the track explodes into a criticism of Elon Musk, incel culture, and multi-verification software.
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It’s fever dream inducing, and yet simultaneously it reveals objective reality hard to avoid. But there is an energetic resonance in the track that allows for the opportunity to somatically exert any built-up tension caused by global chaos, corruption and malevolence omnipresent in this era.
Conceptually, the album as a whole pays homage to and draws inspiration from how pirate radio stations have historically reclaimed control to contradict the agendas enforced by government, media and corporations.
“I know there's been a series of pirate radio stations around the world,” says Owusu. “They literally hijack airwaves of legitimate radio stations and then just play and say what they want. That was the influence for a lot of the whole album. I'm hijacking the airwaves; I'm hijacking people's attention and saying what I want to say despite mainstream narratives suggesting otherwise.
“I’m not so much considering what people think they might want to hear. I'm taking this time to say what I want to say.”
And its that very confrontation of the truth, of the consideration that the corporate and political rhetoric being fed to us is not serving the common person when paired with the musicality of this record that has created a medium for people to understand and express their confusion and mistrust.
“We're living in confusing and paranoid times,” notes Owusu. “It feels like there's a wave of fog around everything that's made it hard to see clearly as to what is going on because there are so many distractions from all points of view.
“Even now the most powerful politicians in the world are constantly gaslighting and lying straight to our faces. The current context felt like an opportunity to just like cut through it all and speak to things directly how I saw them.
“It was important to broach these issues with energy though, because when people get bombarded with information like this it can elicit apathy and an indifference, meaning people just want to tap out.
“I wanted to guide the message with a lot of energy, to put a battery in people's back, to give them the energy to go out the door every day and face the world and feel like they're not alone,” he adds. “And as a community, we can do something about this.”
It is this hope of garnering and empowering community that Owusu is determined to offer in the live shows that he is set to bring to cities in Australia and Europe during the album tour.
“The things that I want to say are in the music,” advises Owusu. “With the live show acting as an opportunity to garner the community in one place and have the music be a soundtrack to both partying and rebellion.
“It's ultimately a community meetup where we can celebrate, dance and meet each other face to face as humans, rather than remaining alone doom scrolling and having to ingest all the shit of the world in our bedrooms.”
“The whole thing is really just about community. Festivals offer the opportunity to reach out to people who don't know you and people who may walk different paths. I always find the festivals are a cool place of discovery.”
It’s these opportunities to play in front of audiences that Owusu cherishes, all the while recognising the privilege that comes with such a platform.
“All the major civil rights movements around the world that I’ve seen, not that I think I'm pioneering a civil rights movement or anything, but historically they have been started by students, or with young people who are idealistic and have enough of an imagination to see a better world.
“As a musician it's an honour to be able to speak to the future lineage of people who are going to change the world and you know with this project of mine, while once again I'm not positioning myself as some civil rights leader, I have the privilege to gather people of all different walks of life into one space and to try and create some community.”
It’s been in this latest project for Owusu that he has been able to act as the conduit to connect community. Two of the singles he’s released from the album also have accompanying music videos that were filmed in his country of origin, Ghana.
“I shot two music videos in Ghana,” he states. “One was STAMPEDE and one was LIFE KEEPS GOING. Shooting the videos in Ghana was a crazy and nourishing experience. I was born there, my whole family's from there, but I haven't been back since I was a teenager.
“Being able to film in a place like Ghana really highlights that this is a global experience. As well as the personal aspect of me being able to tap back into my roots. The LIFE KEEPS GOING music video was filmed in Blackstar Square, which was a monument slash stadium that was built to commemorate Ghana's independence from colonialism. Ghana was the first African country to be free from colonialism.”
The threads contributing to the album’s coming into being run deep and wide, an exploration that reveres the humanness of what it means to exist in modernity. But moving forward Owusu succinctly hopes that “this album can be the soundtrack to someone's rebellion, the soundtrack to someone's liberation movement.”
His discography to date gleams the potential that comes with a steadfast approach to confronting the woes of our time. REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is no exception and stands capable of not just far-reaching praise, but an empowering that permeates further than such.
Genesis Owusu’s REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is out now. Tickets to his album launch tour are on sale now.
Genesis Owusu – Red Star Wu’s Pirate Radio Tour
Friday, May 15th – UC Refectory, Canberra, ACT
Sunday, May 17th – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Monday, May 18th – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Thursday, May 21st – The Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday, May 23rd – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, SA
Sunday, May 24th – The Rechabite, Perth, WA
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
