By Alex Szeptyck

Ivory is at its best when Omar Apollo fully commits to taking adventures into different sonic spaces.

Omar Apollo’s music is excitingly eclectic: he revels in the freedom that comes with exploration. The singer/producer’s two mixtapes and debut album, Apolonio, reflected a polyglot sensibility — the tracks touched many bases, from croon-heavy R&B and lurching P-Funk homage to corrido folk.

Apollo’s new album, Ivory, continues to bounce through genres. His flexible vocal performances are part of a very varied tracklist. This wide range is a strength as well as weakness: the recording occasionally suffers when Apollo struggles to offer more than lip service to the varied styles. But, when the album’s instrumentals match Apollo’s singing, this is an evocative and diverse listen whose successful moments compensate for its stumbles.

Ivory is driven by Apollo’s voice. It’s not always what he’s saying as much as how he’s singing it. Take the intro track, “Talk.” Distorted guitars and peppy drums lead into a brash, almost spoken word verse before Apollo slides into the delightfully airy intonations of the chorus. “No Good Reason” also showcases his impressive versatility: at first, Apollo whispers a soft cadence as bouncy synth hits and drums supply an energetic contrast. He lets loose to sing the hook, which becomes the melody: “What you makin’ me mad for? Why you talkin’ like that for?” He uses his singing as another instrument in the arrangement, his vocals often taking the melodic lead.

Ivory is at its best when Apollo fully commits to adventures in different sonic spaces. “Killing Me” is a production standout; a sultry guitar riff opens the track, reinforced by some feathery light ukulele plucking. This unusual combination sets up a gently crooned declaration of devotion: “Missing the party for what? There ain’t nobody but us.” It all contributes, perfectly, to the atmosphere of a hazy sex jam.

“Tamagotchi,” meanwhile, overflows with the kinetic energy of booming drums and brash rapping. Apollo inserts a melodic vocal cadence in between the rhythmic banging. Elsewhere, on “Go Away,” Apollo plays the pop heartthrob, singing “I just don’t see you enough/I wanna see you enough” over a spacey synth background. Clean guitar notes echo through the mix, the right embellishment for what turns out to be a yearning, melancholy groove.

Apollo tones down the sound in other tracks as well, and this is where the album falters, despite his strong vocal performances. “Waiting On You” feels like an acoustic lullaby. Apollo adopts a singsong cadence, and the volume and emotional intensity are softened considerably. The strategy does not work: the tune’s listlessness undercuts the power of Apollo’s delicate voice.

In fact, Ivory’s mellower passages reflect a lack of commitment to production that pervades the album’s weakest tracks, which don’t come off as songs but as brief sketches, like the lethargic closer “Mr. Neighbor.” From its barely-there acoustic passages to its sluggish drums, the song never gets off the ground. And even on a track like “Bad Life,” strong vocals from Apollo and guest Kali Uchis can’t fully make up for instrumental minimalism. “Steal my pride/Every Time/Do you feel it all?” repeatedly sings the duo in call and response, echoing each other’s words. It’s an excellent performance — but the pair might as well be singing a capella.

That said, there are times here when Apollo manages to fine tune this overly restrained approach. “Personally” draws on a balladic structure and transforms it into a tune about mourning a breakup: “What we got ain’t workin’ for me, all it ever did was change a person for me.” Apollo’s voice is strong enough to compensate for a lackluster tempo, propelled by spare acoustic picking and occasional synth swells. Here the desolate backdrop fits the song’s tale of solitary grief. The similarly bleak “Evergreen” makes something out of its downtempo triplet groove and dreamy synth runs: “Evergreen, he controls me/Was there something wrong with my body?”

On “En El Olvido” Apollo perfects his minimalism. A lilting, waltzy guitar passage stands alone, softly demanding attention. Apollo sings over it in Spanish, and here we can hear all that his vocal range is capable — packed into each syllable. His voice floats up and down as the tune edges to its breaking point. It’s not just Apollo’s vocal technique; it’s the emotional power that his supple voice can convey.

Ivory feels like a big step forward in Omar Apollo’s career. After two EP’s and an album that showed promise, it’s refreshing to see an artist deliver a project whose depth and texture does justice to his potential.

Alex Szeptycki is a writer from Charlottesville, VA. He recently graduated from Stanford University, majoring in American Studies with a focus in contemporary art and pop culture. He’s currently working as a freelance writer at the Arts Fuse while navigating post-grad life in a pandemic.