DarkoVibes has always been notoriously hard to pin down, regularly experimenting with elements of Afropop, highlife, trap, EDM and soul to create music that deftly sidesteps categorisation. The arrival of his 2020 debut album, Kpanlogo, is regarded as a watershed moment for Ghanaian music, thanks to the enigmatic artist sneaking his freewheeling ethos and methodology into the heart of the Ghanaian mainstream while paying homage to the Jamestown suburb of Ghana where he grew up. The three years that followed have seen the artist continue to delight with his wholly transformative sonic vision and choices that keep providing inspiration and impetus for Ghana’s alternative scene at large. A lot of the time since Kpanlogo and its follow-up, The Cornerstone, has also been spent journeying across the world while painstakingly crafting his next musical monument. On 2023’s BUTiFLY, he brings his artistic vision to life in singular fashion across 17 songs that pull a thread through pop, drill, dubstep and funk—a graceful showing that showcases the fruits of his peerless mind. A literal homage to DarkoVibes’ limitlessness, BUTiFLY opens with the sharp drill cut, “YAO”, but is more defined by its languid post-R&B cocktails that are as compelling as they are meticulously produced. “Mine”, which incorporates Afropop’s percussive bass, is a smoky abstraction of modern R&B. Much like on Kpanlogo, BUTiFLY invites some of West Africa’s foremost pop stars into DarkoVibes’ orbit: Oxlade delivers a stunning verse and bridge over the shuffling drums of “Feel Your Body” and Omar Sterling helps to bring the ladies’ anthem “WOW” to life.