"Tonight’s acts share more than just an irreverent and sometimes chaotic approach to using simple, unflashy electronic sounds to produce brash yet highly personal songs, heavy on wordplay and scattergun cultural references. An added satisfaction comes with them engaging completely with the audience, explaining what they’re doing, asking us questions throughout, and expecting answers. Octavia Freud has a new album in the pipeline and hopes his set will help with choosing the tracks. The highlight of the new songs is ‘The Burden of Arthur Russell’, a tribute to the maverick New York disco legend, and features a nod to Sterling Void’s ‘It’s Alright’. Its infectious groove and mellow keyboard lines are a contrast to Freud’s more confrontational style, but happily we’re soon back in that familiar territory, aided by guests Emma Hunter and Tiger Mendoza on vocals and guitar. ‘Tappin’ may be the first pop song about EMDR (look it up) and, like his best material, tells a coherent and informative story. After a song taking righteous aim at Elon Musk the set closes on yet another high with ‘Proud Mother’, about the parent he hasn’t seen for twentyfive years. Emotional and uplifting, the show is the best we’ve seen him perform." 

NIGHTSHIFT MAGAZINE, April 2025