Beautifully creative musicianship and a faultless yet versatile flow lights up the conceptual depth and fearless honesty of this new album from rapper and artist Rroku.
Built around deeply personal sentiments both relatable and captivating in their realism, OVERTHINKER is an aptly-titled collection of dreamy to intense modern rap tracks.
We begin with the softly-spoken PREFACE to lay the foundations for what follows, and this mellow, reflective energy is blissful, and swiftly bridges the gap between artist and audience. Rroku’s willingness to be vulnerable is refreshing, and the soulful production underneath, the clarity and emotion of the mix, all celebrates that quality in a satisfying way.
As we move into DETACHMENT, the pace is up, the flow heightened, the details overflowing, and we hear that diversity of style in both the electro-trap production and the call-and-response shifting vocal style from one moment to the next.
It’s an incredibly strong start, and this album continues to connect and impress throughout eight impassioned and artistically unpredictable originals.
ESCAPE paints a new sound yet again, trap rhythms and dreamy tropical keys, a lyrical sentiment blending bigger-world issues and intimate observations.
Then for ALONE, fragmented vintage sounds draw us into another profoundly personal reflection of pain and uncertainty, as Rroku seeks to intertwine the uplifting excitement of touring with the heartbroken realities of isolation. The music reinforces this juxtaposition, and makes for one of the album’s most striking performative tracks of all.
Next we’re into the meat of the lyrical contemplations of Rroku. A stripped-back, ambient track, with piercing statements again uniting poetry and personality in a way that feels brilliantly relatable and addictive to listen through. It’s a gritty and captivating rap song, and it begs for you to listen more than once to catch every idea.
Arrangement matters, and after the minimal musicality of the former track, ONE BREATH welcomes us into a musically enchanting highlight – a unique flow and piano-led backdrop creating an engaging and impressive soundtrack and inspiring, motivational song.
Mellow self-reflection then guides us through the easy sway of HURTS TO SAY, another moment of invaluable connection with the humanity at the heart of Rroku’s writing – a lyrical highlight that’s so well-rounded in terms of its consistency and clever adherence to the topic and mood.
Wrapping things up – jazz keys and atmospheric hints of design present a lo-fi to suddenly rock-like instrumental peak, and a string of lyrics that again fascinate and inspire; with a sublime meandering performance that’s faultlessly in tune with the changing stages of the writing and set-up.
ABSOLUTE is stunning, loaded with musical highs and lows that rightfully underline the searching and lostness at the centre of the written journey. It’s a heart-breaking and creatively memorable finish, for an album that genuinely reaches out to both vent its frustration and connect with and understand those who feel a similar sense of detachment and division from the world.
Find Rroku on Instagram, YouTube.
