Welcome back from break and to Ear 2 Da Sky! Like always, each week I’ll be going over topics within music culture and reviewing albums and EPs across genres, eras and artists that are submitted by readers like you, and listeners of my radio show every Wednesday at 11 p.m. on WHUS 91.7 FM! Over the past winter break, I was blessed with the privilege of doing nothing. So, to fill up that empty space I sat with a lot of music, scrolling through old submissions, playing, pausing, skipping, rewinding, all that. Through this process, I stumbled upon detahjae’s “Lone, Borealis.”
Released in November 2024, this was his debut album, which had been about six years in the making after releasing his first single in 2018. The Bay Area based artist has definitely been on the come up as of late with the help of this most recent project, garnering attention from the likes of artists such as Dreamer Isioma and Teezo Touchdown.
One of the main takeaways from the album on my first listen was the word “angst.” There’s this deeply rooted feeling of angst weaved through the album as detahjae is lost in this identity crisis in the first track, “as i play the piano.” He appears tired of having to succumb to the expectations of outside eyes rather than living up to his own expectations and even recognizes the growth in his style after taking a three-year hiatus from releasing music.
Another thing I’ve noticed listening back to this album a couple of times was the influence Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt had on his style, especially their older works. It is definitely more pronounced within the production and flow/delivery, as well as some of the nonsensical and crass storytelling; you can hear a lot of it in track six, “Equinox, á le train” and track eight, “Beans.” It feels like people tend to rag on artists for having similar sounds to others, especially larger and more established artists, but I think it’s great, especially as he mentions in the first track how he’s still growing into his sound and style. Influence will always be imminent, as it comes with traversing through all the different ideas that fly in and out of your head, trying to find your sound and what makes your art uniquely your art.
The music isn’t all that stuck with me, I was blown away by the types of visuals and storytelling he had for a debut album. Alongside the album, detahjae released music videos for “Janice,” “Abyss” and “Girl-Friend.” I feel as though he actually adds to the story of the album, making it truly feel like an experience rather than just a set of videos. While that may seem obvious, I do believe that a good music video is a lost art and detahjae went three-for-three.
With this only being his debut album, he has definitely set high expectations for future projects, but I’ve been convinced to sit and stay for a while to see how it pans out. After spending a good amount of time with “Lone, Borealis,” it’s evident that there is influence from artists sprinkled in here and there, but from the music to the videos, detahjae has definitely created something that is uniquely his, I think he just has to find a way to hold on to and harness it.
Rating: 3.5/5
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