NY-based artist, Native Son, announces his second EP, JOY THEFT (Radio Silence), out February 4, 2021. Along with the announce Ano Chrispin, aka Native Son, shares his first single “CTRL FREAK.” Chrispin says, “‘CTRL FREAK,’ to me, feels like a song about the fragility of youth. At its core, it’s my telling of a survivor of sexual violence’s story, but it revolves around the idea of mysterious chaos hiding in the corners of the places we most associate with being young in this country. In my eyes, it serves as a reminder of society’s disposition towards survivors of assault- and as a prompt to steel oneself for the unpleasant things that come with life.” Chrispin’s creative process as Native Son is also rooted in his visual arts practice. While attending university for art history, he started to experiment with the idea of his paintings and songs being supplemental to one another. What began as using works of art for album covers quickly turned into experiments in writing music to match visual substructures.

The sound of New York City is varied in a way that’s similar to its disposition. It’s representative of the old and the contemporary existing side by side; of the high rollers and the proletariat; uptown and downtown; the fast pace and slow burn. Ano Chrispin knows this better than most because he’s spent years of his life staring it down. Painting being his first love, Chrispin – better known as a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Native Son – has dedicated his waking moments to observation. The interactions he observes between the city’s organic forms; Its buildings and its inhabitants, morph into images and sound bites that he stores in his mind.

Compared to his debut album, 2020’s underdog masterwork Metro Dread, JOY THEFT is an au courant reactionary piece. Teeming with notes of pent up youthful energy that introduce us to a young man cranking out intensely personal ballads, JOY THEFT serves as Native Son’s newest commentary on love, attachment, abuse, class, depression and race; presented through a series of metaphorical croonings and huge sonic ideas in tight compositional spaces. And, although he’s a bedroom producer, crafting and recording all of his songs with his guitar and keyboard in the confines of a 700 square foot apartment, the genre with the occupation’s namesake is hardly one broad enough to encompass his effort on the EP.