I Ya Toyah’s collaboration with Stabbing Westward’s Walter Flakus bears bountiful fruit with the former’s new single “Panic Room”. The Polish-born performer/singer/producer and songwriter continues transcending myriad boundaries with her music and has discovered a powerful synergistic connection with Flakus that helps define “Panic Room”. Ania Tarnowska, aka I Ya Toyah, has established herself as one of the most formidable all-around rising talents emerging from modern music and there’s nothing about “Panic Room” that suggests her momentum will slow anytime soon.
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The track has several marquee elements. The one most likely to stick with listeners, however, is the emphatic chorus and the inflamed passion Toyah brings to her performance during these passages will linger with all but the most cynical of listeners. It has been one of several distinguishing characteristics of Toyah’s work thus far, her committed delivery, and “Panic Room” maintains the same lofty standards.
Flakus’ contributions sharpen the track’s rambunctious spirit. There’s certainly a bit of a “take no prisoners” quality propelling “Panic Room” forward and much of that emanates from the ceaseless energy Flakus embodies with his additions to the track. “Panic Room” has a sharp hard rock edge, without question, while still exerting considerable mass appeal. I Ya Toyah is more than up to the challenge that the material presents and stamps her authority on every line of the song.
She’s confrontational without ever alienating listeners. She has a boisterous rock attitude given an intensely personal touch in the case of I Ya Toyah and her performing mastery grows with each new release. “Panic Room” and future work with Flakus open new vistas for her eclectic musical vision and supplies ample evidence that she’ll continue exploring wherever the Muse calls.
Its energy certainly makes it a thoroughly contemporary experience. “Panic Room” has a fresh ferocity surrounding it that you can’t readily duplicate and gives I Ya Toyah’s work intangible authenticity – even intimacy. Everything sounds on the line for her when she sings, and it is a quality you can’t put a price on in these increasingly artless days.
It doesn’t overstay its welcome either. I Ya Toyah has superb instincts for understanding what her audience craves, and how that fits her own direction, and eschews any sort of self-indulgence. There’s an unquestionable theatricality informing her music, but it never comes as cheap tinsel, or gaudy yet ultimately needless trappings. “Panic Room” sends listeners through a full-throttle experience understanding the limits of a listener’s endurance.
I Ya Toyah has amassed an impressive body of work in a few years. She isn’t inordinately prolific, but the majority of her releases have significantly moved the goalposts for her musical development. “Panic Room”, especially heralding an ongoing partnership with the aforementioned Flakus, provides ample evidence that her powers will keep growing. Few singers/performers/writers today pack the potential to elevate and entertain audiences as we hear from I Ya Toyah. She comes across as a musical artist reaching the height of their skill and that run may last for some time to come.
Garth Thomas