Troy Junker, a uranium miner-turned-singer and rapper, has made an EP of short and punchy songs brimming with optimism. Each of the five songs delves into Troy's steps along the music path he has embarked on. He talks about adversity and the lack of support he's encountered.
"People change for a little change / Life's too short to stress on little things," he raps on the opening lines of "The Juice." His songs are part affirmation and part exploration of past nuisances. But Junker would benefit from a deeper look into these aspects of his ascent. It would bolster the album by providing something more than surface level examples. He is relatable, but almost too much so. This could also be due to the too-short runtime — despite rap's current trends, the five songs aren't enough to truly dig into.
That's not to say Troy's music is not enjoyable or playable. There's just a need for story and emotion, because that is clearly the tone and approach he is taking. But Junker's life experiences beg for more exploration, including life as a miner, moving from a small Prairie town to Toronto for school, or being a part of the rising class of Indigenous rappers, all things on which he has a unique and likely interesting perspective.
(Independent)"People change for a little change / Life's too short to stress on little things," he raps on the opening lines of "The Juice." His songs are part affirmation and part exploration of past nuisances. But Junker would benefit from a deeper look into these aspects of his ascent. It would bolster the album by providing something more than surface level examples. He is relatable, but almost too much so. This could also be due to the too-short runtime — despite rap's current trends, the five songs aren't enough to truly dig into.
That's not to say Troy's music is not enjoyable or playable. There's just a need for story and emotion, because that is clearly the tone and approach he is taking. But Junker's life experiences beg for more exploration, including life as a miner, moving from a small Prairie town to Toronto for school, or being a part of the rising class of Indigenous rappers, all things on which he has a unique and likely interesting perspective.