Phyton–Yosa Peit (Tax Free Records, 2020, rerelease Fire Records 2022)

Phyton, by Berlin based producer, singer and composer Yosa Peit, is a glitchy stew of 80s soundtrack synths, R&B, and the occasional birdsound. While it saw light first on Tax Free Records in 2020, Fire Records will be giving it wider release in November 2022. While the press release namechecks Bjork and Laurie Anderson, I don’t quite see the comparison there–other than those being two other amazingly innovative artists. Peit needs to be heard on her own terms, and she simply needs to be heard. The tracks flirt with the familiar and then skew off and fracture, sliding into another thing entirely. It’s the kind of delicate balance between groove and destabilization that feels correct at the moment.