On Surrender, Endgame’s debut album, the Bala Club co-founder grapples with themes of loss and temporality as he contemplates the passing of his father. Featuring appearances by long time collaborators Yayoyanoh and Organ Tapes, the record imagines a world where angels and devils collide against a decaying landscape, evoked through a severe sonic palette that crackles with dismembered rhythms and shadowy club sounds. The result is diabolically dynamic; a vision of a mind in flux.
The album also marks Endgame’s first time as a vocalist. “Requiem” is a sombre reflection of grief; its minimalist instrumental allows his gentle, Auto-Tuned croon to rise into the foreground as he laments, “let’s become one”. Like a ball of yarn, each track unravels the emotions surrounding his loss. As the artist reminds us on the closing track “Tunnels”, “Nothing here is sacred but these feelings”.
Elsewhere, pop-rap boy band Brockhampton release their penultimate album, Tommy Cash surprises with a mind-boggling EP, and Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Yaya Bey reflects on love, sex, and breakups in her latest offering.
