L.A. producer Jennifer Lee, A.K.A. TOKIMONSTA, delivered her fourth studio album via her own label, Young Art Records on March 20, 2020. 

Amidst a global pandemic where everyday life is being put on hold, there is one basic human need that remains fully satisfied: the intake of good new music. 

Albeit, artists have been forced to release their music in unconventional ways due to worldwide restrictions on public events. TOKIMONSTA went the whole nine yards with her online release, venturing to make the release experience as immersive as the musical pieces she created for the new album. She hosted an Ask Me Anything (“AMA”) with her fans over Reddit on St. Patrick’s Day and put out a live stream of her new album two days later over Facebook live. 

Three weeks after her release, as I scan her Spotify profile, I am amazed to see that her second single off the album, “Fried For the Night,” has already amassed over 1M streams! 

With her brand new twelve-track LP Oasis Nocturno, TOKIMONSTA has once again satiated the world’s dark music enthusiasts such as myself. The minor tones move me the way they should. 

Mad props to Jen Lee for never disappointing! BOOM, BOOM, BUDDA; the beat goes bang (you will understand when you listen to track six “Up and Out”). Maybe I shouldn’t write while intoxicated, BUT Jen Lee has a good ring to it; does she do her own stunts? Well.. you did say ‘ask me anything’!

“Fried for the Night” is an unleashing of musical energy, which propels TOKI’s listeners into the early-morning hours of their inner-city parties. 

When I showed my girlfriend this song, she kept asking if it was featuring Marshall Mathers, and I don’t blame her. The crazy flow from the here featured EARTHGANG carries an Eminem flavour with it. I hope EARTHGANG takes that as a compliment!

I found it very interesting to learn that this song was put together as a tribute to “those moments you feel fried and turnt [rather than fried and burnt],” stated Lee in regards to the inspiration behind the track. 

We move on to track 9, entitled “To be Remote”: a very earthy, transcendent song title. The dissonant spaces shaped by Lee’s production follow suit with this concept, as her fury bleeds through fine lines of piano prowess and sentient guitar melodies. It is worth noting that this is not a featured track, but it does contain carefully placed vocal sampling, similar to the work done on track 1, “Love That Never.” 

The vocal resampling in “To be Remote” begins around 2:30 of the track. As you listen, maybe you are wondering if she has sampled one of the featured vocalists from elsewhere on the album, or whether she nabbed this clip from deep within her crate of audio goodness, which so often delivers tasteful blessings of raw vocal samples. 

The final track on the album is entitled “For my Eternal, Oh Dream My Treasure.” What we hear on this ethereal instrumental outro seems to be a plucked violin patch laden with rhythmic delay effects. It is a simplistic way to send off her listeners. 

She has proven once again that nothing musical is beyond her abilities or beneath her humility. Her innate talent sets her apart from the pack and pushes the boundaries of modern-day R&B production.

-Taylor Odishaw-Dyck