A gemini is someone born between the 22nd of May and the 22nd of June. They’re typically extroverted, clever and curious. Prince, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Andre 3000, Noel Gallagher, Tupac Shakur, Paul McCartney, Biggie are all geminis. So is Steve Lacy.

Lacy doesn’t really mirror the personalities of the artists above. The DIY writer and producer turned member of The Internet and collaborator of Solange, Mac Miller and many more, is usually more subtle than those around him. A soft-spoken prodigy contributing nuanced, pretty lo-fi guitar riffs, drum loops and hooks.

Now, the 24-year-old from Compton is a man looking to flex his muscles a bit. On Gemini Rights, Steve Lacy sounds more self-assured, more thoughtful, and more playful than ever. Instrumental passages are more lush and less formulaic, and crucially, Lacy’s voice is stretching, contorting and emoting all over the place.

It’s a level of comfort and self-awareness only seen in very slight splatters on his debut solo album ‘Apollo XXI’. This time around, it seems that listeners have been pulled back into the fold after four years of Lacy privately figuring out a sound more diverse than before. That or he has simply chosen to take a huge leap in terms of both production and storytelling for Gemini Rights. Either way, it’s paid off.

Mercury, the album’s first single, is definitely a leap, and it inhabits a world far from Compton. It feels more like a band’s jam session in a hazy town square somewhere in South America. A yelping, shapeshifting anthem speaking to feelings crashing against one another. It’s raucous, driving and more charismatic than any Steve Lacy song before it.

More highlights on the album come from the other two singles, Bad Habit and Sunshine (feat. Foushee), more “traditional” numbers in the Lacy catalogue. Even so, both songs see Steve as a more versatile singer. Melodies, tone and lyrics pull from 2000s pop-punk and indie-rock, whilst remaining smooth and silky. Button is sexy and pulsating, whilst Static serves as a tone-shifting introduction to Steve Lacy in 2022. Lyrics like ‘looking for a bitch because i’m over boys’ position the artist in a refreshing place of power and floridity, rather than that of a hopeless romantic.

The remaining songs on the ten-track album, coming in at a total of a perfectly weighted 35 minutes, are varied and unpredictable. For a couple, it’s to their detriment. Cody Freestyle sounds ethereal and spacious - far from the tight, groovy rhythms and vocal mixing seen elsewhere on Gemini Rights. Give You The World meanders for a long while and, despite its sincere heart and soul, is a slightly underwhelming finale to an otherwise exciting project.

Ultimately, Gemini Rights is an exercise in self-assertion. It’s wholly personal, but looks outward to muses and friends along the way, and maybe those gemini artists before him. It feels more professional and more comprehensive than anything before it in Lacy’s music career. Refreshing and carefree yet thorough.

Some fans will wish again for the days of Soundcloud singles and flannel shirts, but it’s clear that, for now, those days seem too tame for the 24-year-old to return to. One thing is for sure, Steve Lacy is no longer an artist loading up GarageBand on his phone every studio session.