Performing almost the entirety of his sophomore release, Struggler, Genesis Owusu put on an abstract artistic display fused with a preternatural charisma at The Sinclair in Harvard Square on October 19th that makes a future in the spotlight seem all but inevitable.
As the opening act on Paramour’s most recent tour, Owusu made his way onto the 2023 Boston Calling lineup alongside his headlining hosts and put on a set that captivated the press corps and launched his name to the top of a plethora of the ensuing articles about the festival’s highlights. As a result, his set at Sinclair featured a lot of familiar faces among the Hub’s most prominent tastemakers.
Owusu’s set kicked off with “Leaving the Light,” the first track off Struggler, and out of the gate, he paced across the entire stage and back with an eager ferocity made to feel even more urgent by a strobe-heavy light show entirely contained within a mirrored, monolithic cuboid.
The Ghanaian-born Australian whose given name is Kofi spoke to his audience mid set about the chaotic state of things but thankfully avoided getting into details, thus allowing his audience to remain in the fantastical mind space his performance creates.
Owusu’s music meanders into Post-Punk, New Wave, Hip-Hop, and R&B but what is truly perplexing is that he doesn’t belong to any one of those genres over another. His set brought to mind the cadence of TV on the Radio’s “Dancing Choose,” the spasticity of Aphex Twin’s breakbeats on “Digeridoo,” and the deep groove of Big Gram’s “Goldmine Junkie.”
On his studio material, these songs are co-written and performed by instrument-wielding collaborators, but unfortunately, for the live show, Owusu followed the growing trend amongst Elder Gen Z artists to rely heavily on a prerecorded instrumental track to perform along with. With that said, the man was strutting his stuff across the stage in high fashion outfits he designed himself and not only waded into the crowd but even made it up to the balcony. Live musicians would certainly improve the sonic quality of his performances, but the performance is Genesis Owusu, and the power of his persona more than made up for these shortcomings.
The show Owusu put on at The Sinclair was a massive display on a small scale. It was as vast in scope and aggressively boundary-bending as it was overly confined in the 525-person venue. Attempting to predict the career trajectory of a young act touring in support of their second album would usually lend itself to a lousy batting average, but having seen the show Owasu put on at Boston Calling, a spectacle with backup dancers hidden within an outfit he wore on stilts, and seeing the way he blew the roof off The Sinclair, it’s tough to imagine him coming back to Boston playing a mid-sized venue. There’s just nothing “mid” about him.
