OBUXUM is a young producer from Toronto who has been releasing music for a couple of years now. She recently caught the ear of URBNET Records, and they have now teamed up to release her latest project, and EP called H.E.R.

Just glancing at the song length on this EP, your first instinct might be to think of this as a beat tape, but that’s not the case with H.E.R. This is such a complex and multi-faceted project, it doesn’t feel anywhere close to ten-minute run time it actually has. No, OBUXUM has crafted such a unique sound that defies genre along with compositions that are constantly shifting and evolving, it feels much longer than that. H.E.R. is best listened to in one sitting, just letting go and letting OBUXUM take you on a journey. It’s not quite hip hop, it’s not quite dance music, it’s not quite EDM, but it draws on all of this and beyond. The opening bars of “HE®STORY” might give you the idea that you’re in for some DJ Shadow-ish downtempo, with this big, spacious beat and some beautiful and soulful keyboards providing structure to the song, but that fades out to a poignant vocal sample that asks you to consider what compromise it. From there, we get “THE 6IX GODDESS,” which makes nice use of chopped up and manipulated vocal samples. On “PU$$Y POWAH,” OBUXUM steers the EP into this meditative trap beat, with a haunting synthesizer melody that provides the hook. When you get to “BETTY BLUE’S INTERLUDE,” the EP really starts to open up as OBUXUM takes an opera sample, flips it and chops it up, and then takes us into this European skweee sound as keyboards take over and drive the melody over a downtempo dance beat. This gives way into “ZIPP DISKKSS (TO AN ANGEL),” which ramps up the energy as a pulsing dance beat pushes the EP forward. “DUNKIN VIBRATIONS” takes that dance vibe and kicks everything up a level to the peak of the EP, as rhythmic patterns and chopped vocal samples all bounce off each other in this really compelling fashion that remind me a bit of A Tribe Called Red.

Normally, when I get a ten-minute release, I’m only given enough time to think something is nice enough and maybe it has potential. OBUXUM was able to pack so much into H.E.R., I not only think she has potential, I know she has the goods as a producer with her own unique vision. I can’t wait to see where she goes from here.