The extraordinary Seo made not one but two outstanding albums in 2022 — and this one, if anything, is even eerier than its predecessor Nightblood. Its Lagos bedroom electropop is framed with light-heartedness: it features tracks called things like “Stoner Station: Destination Spooky Central” and there’s a carnival theme running through the lyrics and faux-naif artwork featuring teddybears, ice cream and carousels. But for all that, every so often a lyric like “why does lightning look so cold” will hit you head on and the real weirdness at play here will burst out. The music plays with the sparseness of dancehall/R&B-derived Afropop, turning it into a completely unique kind of experimental electronica — and the sing-song pop songwriting gets right under your skin. On headphones, in the dark, it works almost like an abstract radio play, a psychedelic cabaret of the mind that hits different every time.

– Joe Muggs