Yeti Man Born

Yeti Man Born (2021) showcases ZacZ moving forward a significant distance beyond his earlier works (such as Liquid Pepper and Imperfections), and even beyond last year’s Tripsville Tennessee. Yeti Man Born accomplishes a reverse arc from incantatory raps playing against a landscape of hip hop beats and innovative sonic textures, to Happy, a love song set to the rhythmical scrape of a solo violin.

The title track sets the scene: “It’s a crazy pavement kind of day/ Sunset dreams in the dead of night”. ZacZ notes we are sitting “With our heads in neon braces” and that “To be truly free you gotta let go”. But his mood is almost optimistic: “There’s life at the end of the tunnel: if you don’t like the road you’re walking, walk another way”. The answers will not be easy: “Pure mathematics is the way, the poetry of logical ideas” but ultimately, we are dwarfed by the universe. As he sings in Happy: “I wanna sing for the stars.”

This is a driving, original album with extreme lyrics and fiendish guitar. Anyone who has followed Zac Z’s previous sorties in the musical world will be expecting something completely original, and this doesn’t disappoint. More upbeat and enlightened than his last albums, Yeti Man Born is a culmination of creative progress breaking into the light of wider public appeal.