Storming in with confidence and bravado that oozes forth, Genesis Owusu drops his debut LP, Smiling With No Teeth. On his debut full length, Genesis positions himself as the motivic “Black Dog” – a multifaceted character that exists across both internal and external worlds, representing both society’s figure of an outcast and the internal demons of anxiety and loneliness that take hold within that outsider. Drawing on his personal experiences of emigrating from Ghana to Canberra as a child and growing up as a Black man within White Australia, the album represents Owusu’s choice to “wear the badge of an outcast as a badge of honour”, speaking directly to issues of mental health and race. Propelled by the energy of creating his own sound and telling his own story, Smiling With No Teeth is slathered in sharp, funky basslines, and sharpened by Genesis’ vocal delivery, which swings between honeyed, smooth singing and wildly-spat, fist-pumping, microphone-smashing lyricism. With production that sits steadfastly outside of the hip hop wheelhouse, Genesis utilises a five-piece studio band to create lush and gaudy arrangements, a collision of sounds, styles and influences that lends the record a wild, propulsive immersion. Smiling With No Teeth announces the arrival of Genesis Owusu in the most convincing and accomplished manner possible, a tour de force that deftly balances style with substance, layering its moments of self-reflection and deep-seated thematic ruminations beneath kinetic jubilation and an undeniable sense of vitality.