Passenger of the Month in March 2018: TOKUNBO

TOKUNBO – the stages of her musical development follow the dramaturgy of her life. Following a successful career with the acoustic soul band Tok Tok Tok, the singer and songwriter re-entered the music scene as a solo artist in 2014, and now this second and highly acclaimed follow up solo album enriches the story of the journeying artist.
Just a glance at the cover of ‘The Swan’ hints at TOKUNBO’s recent transformation: The dark hues have been replaced with lots of white space, effectively giving way to the eleven multi-faceted and highly colorful songs. While TOKUNBO’s solo debut ‘Queendom Come’ was a celebration of the lo-fi, highly-reduced production style, this second work is expansive with graceful soundscapes, whilst all the while staying true to the spirit of the debut album.

Buy now: TOKUNBO – The Swan

The Tone of Tokunbo

‘The Swan’ is more complex; atmospherically denser with finely crafted details. The understanding of space is of extraordinary significance here: The songs embody a distinct expansiveness, while at the same time remaining structurally tangible, thanks in no small part to the distinguished sound mixing of Marc Ebermann. TOKUNBO has also remained faithful to her tried and true companions: Ulrich Rode once again shines on the guitar, Christian Flohr lends a pleasing warmth on the bass, Matthias ‘Maze’ Meusel creates a refreshingly unconventional percussion, and violinist and multi-instrumentalist Anne de Wolff gives the whole its final polish. And that’s a good thing, because clearly few musicians are able to reproduce such a complex palette whilst avoiding obscurity.

Underlined by grace and love

The result is a lyrical album, which captures the refined symbolism of the swan perfectly. Driven by the many changes in her own life, ‘The Swan’ reflects recent tranformation, including the birth of her first child. Underlined by grace and love, the beauty of ‘The Swan’ is in no way overly obvious. TOKUNBO always manages to retain her very own, mysterious nature, and despite all the versatility on display here, she has also kept her dark, sensual quality of music, a music which has been given the deserved lable Folk Noir.

Find more information on the official Website, Facebook and Instagram.

Each month the recordJet Crew and a handful of music editors will award the recordJet artist with the best release. As a price, each Passenger of the Month will receive basic store promotion for free during the respective month. Apply here.