New York resident Saleh Ramazani—performing as Daddy—describes his upcoming EP Youth FM: A Teen Odyssey as the what might happen “if John Hughes and Whitney Houston had a suburban black kid who always wanted his own punk/hiphop band then eventually started it alone.”
As table setting for lead single “I Think I’m In Love,” there could be far worse descriptions. Summer love, jagged, beats, mournful guitar, and a rough hewn pop sensibility recall the ’80s teenage love stories Hughes brought to life while suggesting modern rock’s obsession with hip-hop percussion. It’s a slightly jagged, charming first step from Ramazani, whose unusual path has led him from birth in Egypt, to rearing in Ireland, and coming of age in Atlanta and New York (an odyssey patently unfamiliar to the white-washed world of Hughes’ movies).
