Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin

Having grown out of Some Say I So I Say Light’s late night lounging with dim sum and dial tones, Ghostpoet is stepping outside. London-based rapper Obara Ejimiwe’s third album is a more direct, day-lit account of urban anxieties than his previous efforts. Despite this he relinquishes none of his idiosyncratic drawl, shuffling onto the street with pacy lead single Off Peak Dreams and the morose duet X Marks The Spot, Nadine Shah one of several guest vocalists showcased here.

With Ejimiwe bolstered this time by his three-piece touring band and tackling issues such as homelessness (the skulking title track), internecine domestic violence (Yes, I Helped You Pack) and clumsy one night stands (the callous Sorry Love, It’s You Not Me), Shedding Skin immediately sounds organic and alert in its character studies.

The risk Ejimiwe takes in trading out drowsy electronica for driving drumbeats and serrated guitars is that his conversational tales no longer have an aura of shadow to hide their occasional lack of development. This rawness creeps into the final third with the over-sludgy Better Not Butter and the pretty though pat piano closer Nothing In The Way. All in all though, a satisfying evolution. [Chris Ogden]