8/10

There’s a special thrill in discovering an artist just as they’re stepping into themselves. And with 'Doggy Bag', Norwegian artist Ayka is unveiling a full-fledged philosophy. This is not a record designed to wander, linger, and hesitate as it plays. And in doing so, it becomes a body of work that feels genuinely lived in.

From the first moments of 'Polysemous', you sense that this album moves at its own speed. Guitars drift rather than drive, tracing loose outlines of melodies that feel half-remembered and fully sincere. The arrangements never rush to resolve themselves. Instead, they hover in those in-between spaces where doubt, humour, tenderness, and fatigue all coexist.

Ayka’s voice is the anchor here. Unvarnished, intimate, occasionally fragile, it carries the weight of stories that don’t need to be dressed up to matter. There’s a quiet bravery in allowing imperfections to remain audible, and letting phrasing bend and lines linger longer than expected. The result is a singing style that feels like a confession overheard through thin walls.

The songs themselves unfold like fragments of a diary left open on a kitchen table. 'Text Don’t Call' glides with a restless unease, capturing the tension between longing and self-preservation, while previous single 'Let Go' sinks into resignation with a tenderness that never tips into self-pity. Across the album, wit and sorrow trade places with ease, often appearing in the same breath. One moment you’re smiling at a crooked lyric, and the next you’re sitting with the ache beneath it.

What makes 'Doggy Bag' so compelling is its refusal to behave. Structures stretch, tempos slacken, and silences speak. At times the music feels deliberately unfinished, as if inviting us to complete it with our own memories. Yet there’s nothing careless here. Every pause, every detour, every strangely extended moment feels chosen.

In all, 'Doggy Bag' offers a slow and stubborn listening experience that rewards patience and curiosity in equal measure. In an era obsessed with immediacy, Ayka arrives with a debut that trusts stillness, embraces strangeness, and dares to be exactly what it is.