Location: Chicago, Illinois
Country; USA
Genre: Experimental
Full length: Drama
Format: Digital, CD, exclusive collectors design vinyl
Label: Femme Fatale Records
Release date: October 4, 2024
Cyberpunk artist I Ya Toyah wants you to experience her innermost thoughts, feelings, and fears, as well as her battles to overcome them via raw woman power. Internal darkness caused by societal expectations and judgment conveyed via music is not new, but her proclivity to face and confront the darkness is presented to urge you to cheer her on "Drama."
I gather her work and stage presence are a mix between Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia and Pink, since she has a certain courage in expressing herself and her real life experiences in a way that resonates across genres. She has an inspiring and long-lasting capacity to transmute grief and despair into strength and resolve, as evinced by songs exhibiting qualities of vulnerability with firepower.
As a producer and label owner as well as a vocalist, musician, and composer, she has reportedly won awards for her promotional videos and received praise for her albums as a result of extensive national touring and bringing her emotional depth and professionalism to her recordings.
I imagine her natural ability for writing unlit, apprehensive and commercially viable music played a role in the acclaim she received for her vision. This admittedly makes much room for debate. Are her tastes more in line with commercial pop or darkwave, industrial and electronica? Is her on-stage persona merely an image or a more deeply rooted extension of herself? "Drama", co-produced with Walter Flakus of Stabbing Westward, might well hold the answers to these questions.
Right from the start, doors are opened from contemporary pop to a more reflective and dark place, a private space rarely discussed in the pop world. The multilayered rhythm of “Afterlight” is the first taste of the universe I Ya Toyah welcomes you into. Though it's a dark place, there’s no shortage of creativity to be experienced as your soul unites with hers. If you dare to embark on this journey by your own free will, you experience genuine empathy and gain potent energy from your mutual sharing.
Not everything that follows will be pleasing however, and some moments might be so surreal they’re frightening, but there’s a burning resolve to heal throughout. I Ya Toyah's presence is more than enough to generate enough hot-blooded fury to ignite and turn the demons confronting you to ash, thanks to vocals as captivating and determined as the songs are diverse. An uncommon voice both underground and aboveground, I Ya Toyah seems bound to leave her mark through her art. –Dave Wolff
Track list:
1. Afterlight
2. Panic Room
3. Dream not to Dream
4. Drama
5. Denial
6. Hello, Hello?
7. I am the Fire
8. Caves
9. Fraud
10. Crashing Comet
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