Since his breakthrough release in 2019, has steadily built a reputation as one of the UK’s most genre-fluid alt-pop voices, effortlessly blending indie, rap and electronic textures into breezy, three-minute anthems. Backed by a fierce live reputation developed from his years of touring, spanning sold-out shows at the Jazz Cafe, European tours and packed festival stages at Latitude and Kendal Calling, the St Albans-raised artist now steps forward with his independent debut album, ‘Words to Live By’, marking the culmination of seven years of sonic evolution. Across twelve tracks in 37 minutes, mustbejohn works through identity-in-flux and finding a tether in a dissonant, ever-shifting world – reframing his vulnerability as something bright, danceable and defiantly hopeful.

Opening with ‘From The Start’ and ‘Doctor’, mustbejohn wastes no time establishing the album’s emotional throughline, kicking off with infectious indie-pop grooves while the latter pulls from jungle. Further in, ‘Catch My High’ documents the process of finding your way back to yourself after losing direction, whilst ‘Love If You Need It’ – co-written with Louis Dunford and James Mellor – arrives as a standout indie-electronic cut that explores tendency to suppress feelings as we mature. An emphatic pre-hook lands hard before a brain-tickling synth ushers in a chorus with a communal reach: “you don’t need to do it on your own… I’ve got love if you need it”. For anyone who may think we’re losing the art of visual storytelling in music, brilliantly choreographed Jungle-esque videos prove that full-scale production and direction can be done both independently and on a budget.

‘Get The Time Back’, co-created with Richard Turvey, pushes the message further, capturing the claustrophobia of feeling stuck in time. The vocals offer an optimistic reminder to embrace the present, with washed-out reverberations allowing mustbejohn to provide some grounded hope: “things aren’t always as grand as they seem, but at least we got a bit of time, you know what I mean?” Tackling the angst of growing up disillusioned and out of touch with the world around you, whilst keeping the hooks catchy and inviting, mustbejohn delicately walks the tightrope between introspection and euphoria.

‘Silence Kills’ nods to mustbejohn’s earlier work, stripping back the verses to stark spoken word with echoes of 2023’s ‘Happy Lonely’. ‘Superstar’ lifts the mood again with a brighter, more uptempo cut in the mould of Blossoms, with ’90s synth stabs guiding a passionately sung hook while notes of distilled melancholia froth underneath. The album closes with ‘Is This the End?’, a shimmering celebration of channelling a whole spectrum of emotions into one collection, and letting it all go in the process. 

A natural fusion of engineered indie charm, electronic experimentation and infectious hooks, the genre-fluid instincts of mustbejohn’s earlier work are all present here, but now serve a singular, more refined purpose. On ‘Words to Live By’, mustbejohn articulates societal and personal hardship head on, whilst never compromising his sense of self and his lofty optimism.

8/10