Tyler Okonma has long had a fascination with alter egos: Wolf Hayley; a Goblin; therapists. He likes the bad parts of ourselves we’d rather not discuss – like Victor Frankenstein rejecting his horrendous monster. Tyler embraces it with a warm hug instead.
“Igor”, then, feels the closet we’ve been to Tyler yet.
Though he takes on another moniker, Igor, replete with a blonde-bob wig, Tyler lets us right in on the twelve-track record. With ‘friendlier’ melodies and love songs, “Igor” explores the light and dark of affection. “You control me, I’m your puppet”, he sings with Kanye West on ‘Puppet’.
Much has been said about to whom is Tyler impressing, confessing and apologising on Igor. Does it matter? Not really.
Whether it’s a man, a women, or both, Tyler’s arrangements here bounce between sublime and scat, and his voice vibrates between high pitch and a low, insane growl – fluid. “Igor” proves he’s a polymath, blending every genre, every gender into a ring-spun soft cotton knit. Perhaps one of the unisex pastel-pink polo’s from his brand, Golf le Fleur.
Tyler has always made his own reality.
Tyler’s creative output till now has been aggressive, but “Igor” is the sweet fruits of his labour – the by-product of a lifelong lab experiment. Like Frankenstein creating his own malformed life, it’s unconventional. But this is Tyler.
5/5
Columbia Records
Reviewed by Darby-Perrin Larner