Solange, whose ‘When I Get Home’ album called upon Tyler for additional vocals and co-production earlier this year, features on three tracks to offer her ethereal vocals. There’s an awful lot to contend with: there’s the hugely contrasting vocal styles of Playboi Carti and Charlie Wilson, the deluge of off-key synth riffs and Tyler singing the lovesick hook – the latter being brought to life in the song’s brilliantly surreal video.Īfter recruiting the pre-fame likes of Rex Orange County and Steve Lacy for ‘Flower Boy’, ‘IGOR’’s diverse list of contributors strikes a more familiar chord. Notably, we don’t hear Tyler rap on this opening gambit, and it continues with the yearning single ‘Earfquake’, a dizzying R&B creation that could’ve only come from the mind of Tyler. ‘IGOR’ immediately confronts us with the pulse-quickening opener ‘Igor’s Theme’ as a powerful wall of synths and a determined, clattering beat (two prominent Tyler tropes that he inherited from years of listening to N.E.R.D) combine with an unexpected Lil Uzi Vert croon (“ Ridin’ ’round town, they gon’ feel this one”) to grasp our attention from the off.

A worthy cause for celebration, then – and what better way to celebrate the news than by throwing yourself into this latest iteration of Tyler, The Creator? ‘IGOR’, Tyler’s first album since 2017’s gloriously transformative ‘Flower Boy’, has been released just as its creator’s contentious UK ban appears to have been lifted ( it was imposed in 2015 by then-Home Secretary Theresa May, who cited offensive lyrics from early material). But in the decade since ‘Bastard’, the Odd Future co-founder’s 2009 debut solo project, you feel that he’s more than earned the right to be heard on his own terms. In an age where we consume a copious amount of media during every waking hour, Tyler’s request for us to do nothing but give our full attention to his latest opus might come across as slightly optimistic.

“No checking your phone, no watching TV, no holding convo full attention towards the sounds where you can form your own opinions and feelings towards the album.” “No distractions,” he instructed fans in an all-caps social media post the evening before ‘IGOR’s arrival. Tyler, the Creator wants you to listen to his new album.

Igor full album