IGOR

Tyler, the Creator’s sixth album is impressionistic and emotionally charged, the result of an auteur refining his style and baring more of his soul than ever before.

The moods of Tyler, the Creator’s albums have largely been defined by absence—of his father, of critical acclaim, of love. He responded to what was missing with antagonism, album after album, until 2017 when he looked back at his life with a sunny lens and twinge of nostalgia to deliver his best work, Flower Boy. That Grammy-nominated album is eminently pleasing, the sound of an iconoclast succumbing to his better judgment. IGOR, the 28-year-old’s sixth full-length, is Tyler finally content in the face of all that agony.

IGOR sounds like the work of a perfectionist giving shape to his more radical ideas. As the album progresses, Tyler goes through his undulations of denial and acceptance, but spends considerable energy hoping to help his beloved find satisfaction, even if that means a future without him. IGOR may be unsettled but it never feels restless. There’s nothing left to say when you’ve given all of yourself away.

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Pitchfork
Tyler, The Creator: IGOR Review (8.0)