KOOB ‘Therapist’ - Turning Mental Chaos Into Sonic Gold

KOOB has never been interested in playing it safe. As a vocalist, composer, and producer with roots in Minsk and Ethiopian heritage, she operates in liminal spaces—genreless, fearless, and emotionally unguarded. Her new single “Therapist,” the lead track from her upcoming album Off Head, is not just a song; it’s a jarring and euphoric outburst. Blending avant-jazz with experimental soul and the disoriented rhythms of urban life, KOOB builds sonic chaos into clarity. If her 2023 debut That Tree planted her firmly in Europe’s jazz elite, “Therapist” tears up the roots and lets them spiral.

The track’s origin story feels almost like a hallucination. KOOB, emotionally drained and rattled by the psychic overload of Berlin’s transit system, found herself locked in eye contact with a cartoon elephant on an ad during an S-Bahn ride. That unhinged moment of recognition—equal parts absurd and profound—spurred a wave of lyrical and sonic ideas. What emerged is what she calls “ADHD jazz”: a defiant soundscape of fragmented beats, surging improvisation, and moments of haunting stillness. Her voice cuts through like an exposed nerve—sometimes resolute, sometimes trembling, always present.

What sets KOOB apart is her command of contradiction. In “Therapist,” she sings that she doesn’t need help even as her vocal delivery reveals the ache beneath the claim. The track sways between internal resistance and surrender, mirroring the push-pull of coping in a mentally frayed world. Her vocal textures slide from raspy spoken-word edges to molten jazz phrasing, like Akua Naru on a jagged bender with Sun Ra’s ghost in tow. But KOOB’s voice is unmistakably her own—wounded, proud, and mercilessly alive.

Musically, “Therapist” is daring in its architecture. It opens in chaos, scatters in every direction with bursts of percussive dissonance and squealing brass, before finding its pulse in a finale that’s unexpectedly structured and euphoric. The band—recorded live in Berlin—doesn’t just follow KOOB; they chase her. There’s a risk and reward to the sound, the same way a tightrope walker’s steps are more thrilling when you sense they could fall at any moment.

With “Therapist,” KOOB doesn’t just break rules—she exposes the very systems those rules were built to tame. Her ability to channel emotional fatigue into an explosive listening experience positions her as one of the most compelling and necessary artists in the avant-jazz world. Off Head promises more of this madness, more of this truth. And if this single is any indication, KOOB is not just documenting the unraveling—she’s orchestrating it.