Yoni & Geti – Testarossa

In its original conception, Testarossa comprised the soundtrack to a script formulated by Why? mainman Yoni Wolf and fellow alt rapper Serengeti. Essentially, it concerned a young couple whose lives go into freefall: Davy jets off with his band while Maddy’s left at home to raise their kids, and the album itself presents us with snapshots of their relationship’s dying embers. 

Serengeti in particular is darkly captivating when portraying the self-obsessed Davy; his fried, matter-of-fact mutterings alternate between outlandish tales of bedhopping across Europe and flashes of grim self-awareness. ‘I’m a poltergeist,’ he regretfully exclaims in one of the record’s recurring themes, suddenly mindful of both his invisibility and his culpability.

Wolf’s typically lush backdrop meanwhile takes in sun-blurred psychedelicism and Pinback indie groove, all cut to a deft hip-hop pulse that’s both brightly hopeful and mournfully direct. Davy is very far from sympathetic, but there’s a raw tenderness here that keeps the tale under Yoni and Geti’s redoubtable spell.