OBONGJAYAR - Paradise Now

Steven Umoh spent the first seventeen years of his life in Nigeria, in the care of his grandmother, before being brought to London by his mother, who had in the meantime fled an abusive husband. It's a particularly sad situation, yet one from which a common story emerges: the relationship between the former colonies of West Africa and England is a constant back-and-forth of young people shipped like parcels, torn between those flung onto British soil without a safety net in an attempt to build a better life, and those sent back from England to study in Africa, either to absorb the traditions dear to their parents or to escape the dangers of the streets that still abound in a country where racism has never truly gone away. The fact remains that over the last few decades we've seen the growth of a largely "Afro-British" community in which social exchange flows more freely than ever, with Stormzy showing up in Lagos's high life scene like a local star, while Burna Boy and Asake fill arenas as far afield as Glasgow – at the latter's Brixton show, anticipation ran so high that two people died.

It's here that Steven initially found himself lost in a deafening cultural clash between the solid, religious tradition of his childhood, the dizzying sense of freedom experienced during boozy nights out while studying at the University of Norwich, and of course the omnipresent influence of American culture, the nation that, amid one horror after another, has done more than any other to elevate the faces of the pan-African diaspora onto the global stage. It's partly for this reason that his musical project Obongjayar draws from just about everywhere, certainly disorienting the listener with constant shifts in perspective, but also managing to forge something genuinely personal.

Released under the September label, his second studio album "Paradise Now" is a dense slalom between piercing contemporary afrobeats ("Strongbone" and the single "Holy Mountain" above all) and curious echoes of the old British indie scene of Klaxons, Friendly Fires, V V Brown and Kele Okereke (the driving "Jellyfish", the oblique single "Sweet Danger"). With a raspy, half-sung voice, at times stammering, always theatrical ("Life Ahead"), Obongjayar leads a listen in which bouncing folkloric ideas ("Prayer") and jittery punk flourishes fit for a possible blaxploitation-style remake ("Instant Animal") tie in with synth-pop in the vein of Maria Chiara Argirò ("It's Time") and festival-ready moments courtesy of Hot Chip ("Not In Surrender").

There's plenty on the boil, then, on "Paradise Now", yet the trick works, because between an African-style chant ("Born In This Body") and a lively, indie-radio-ready single ("Just My Luck"), Obongjayar seems to be having more fun than anyone else - here he is gripping the microphone like a snarling cartoon character, only to throw himself into his videos with a flair for the absurd that's never short on irony. And of course, there's even Little Simz on the tracklist, stammering her way through the album's most brazen track, conceived as pure nonsense ("Talk Olympics"), because in the end Obongjayar is really just Steven Umoh, an easygoing guy who wants to throw a party wherever he goes. While it's true that his reach is still firmly anchored in the independent market, it's equally true that this position grants him a freedom sometimes denied to the big export names, both in Africa and in the West. And that's enough to make us look forward to his next move, safe in the knowledge that an album as varied as "Paradise Now" won't wear thin any time soon.

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05/02/2026