Ghostpoet: Shedding Skin review – tentative hopes for happier times

After his Mercury-nominated debut, Obaro Ejimiwe’s second album, beset by breakups and self-doubt, felt like the product of a bad hangover. “It was a depressing record,” the south Londoner admitted recently. His third album doesn’t exactly radiate positivity but it does feel like a corrective of sorts, expressing tentative hopes for happier times. “Maybe my heart’s on the mend,” ventures one chorus. The mood, set by affectless guitars and minor-key piano, varies little over 10 tracks, but even when contemplating homelessness (on the title track) or foundering relationships (Yes, I Helped You Pack), Ejimiwe feels more at ease in his own melancholy.