“Familiar (I Must Confess)” is a catchy new single from Montreal-based Taigenz, who has been rising steadily the past few years. Since his first mixtape in 2010 – “Mr. 514 (The PreTape)” – to opening for the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., J. Cole and African artists such as Wizkid, Davido & Jovi – Taigenz (Tamfu Terry Ngala) has been developing a rich style that incorporates hip-hop, pop, and electronica with additional percussive aspects of Afro-beat.
Playful percussion and a sonorous synth serve as a nice complement to a suave and charismatic vocal delivery here, the “-, girl” initial approach weaving well into the uptick in tempo that arrives with the additional blooping synths. Effervescent hook around 00:52 is nicely done — I was waiting for a hook at that point, and it arrived just in time. The verses are pretty to-the-point, though I do dig the linguistic transition around 01:30 — and then into that killer chorus. With some commendable stylistic variety and a shining central hook, “Familiar (I Must Confess)” proves to be a very fresh-sounding effort that’s easy to get into.
