Jordan Rakei

Origin

Jordan Rakei, the New Zealand-born, Australia-raised collaborator who made a name in London’s varied scene, has shifted his focus on Origin. Rakei’s third record is a pivot away from the introspective exploration of anxiety that characterized his second record, Wallflower, instead constructing a dystopian future not too far from our present. Origin is propelled by lush production, its hook-filled melodies and jazz inflections giving listeners a taste of his diverse influences. From falling in love with AI to the story of a character sent to populate a new planet, Origin’s themes can appear outside our own reality, yet its lyrics extend beyond the technicalities of their inspirations.

Yet for the bright atmosphere of the record, Rakei includes sombre reflections within it. Depicting a world where an individual struggles for connection, he has written songs whose open-ended qualities imbue them with the universality of pop. “Signs” wrestles with the underlying question of Origin: what is our essential humanity? (Ninja Tune)