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Good art often comes from difficult places. A Canadian emcee, Chris Cachia, continues to harness his personal struggles to realize his latest project, Persona. Created during the pandemic, a time of heightened anxiety for many folks including those who, like Cachia, manage obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the album channels this age of the mask as a take-off point for a coming-of-age, lyrical crime spree.

The opening track, “Abundant Bank,” depicts the outlaw and out-of-place loner who will do whatever is necessary to provide for himself and his family. To evade capture, the wanted is now on the run, placed in the “Prowler Position.” Still, it is not the law that leads to repentance, but the self’s own “Enduring Witness.” Locked in “Raw Shank,” wits are sharpened and, in “Mighty Bomb Jack,” the self-imposed exile is breached. Through introspection, a new “Papyrus Code” emerges, the self is sanctified, and the ensuing “Pandemical Madness” solidifies an awareness: the existence of an individual and collective spark. Recognizing the divinity of self, authenticity is emboldened, and the “Highness Bow.” If we are a continuum of lives performed, then Persona is a story of performance from the highway to the throne.

Charlie McEvoy, who has been friends with Cachia since childhood, produced the album. Cachia tells of how they first recorded music at eight years old in Cachia’s basement on his father’s tape deck. Decades later, they’re still making music and honing their crafts. McEvoy operates In Tune Studios in Stratford, Ontario, and Cachia stays on the run. He is an engaging live performer who has charted on Canadian college radio and, in his other lives, is a dedicated father and husband, educator, and creative.