Album Review: Josh Levi "Hydraulic"

Miles into honing his craft and paying his dues, Josh Levi’s full-length debut Hydraulic is a star-making vehicle for the Houstonian. When he opens the album over cybernated synths, testifying, “This ain’t my first rodeo,” the metaphor extends beyond romance. You can almost glimpse the roads he’s traveled to arrive at this moment in his flexible tenor.

By the time cultural tastemaker and everyone’s favorite awkward Black girl, Issa Rae, signed Levi to Raedio (with distribution through Atlantic), he had already wowed audiences on The X Factor at just 14 years old. Before that, he recurred on the Emmy-winning Friday Night Lights. He commands a stage like another famous Houston native (you know the one) and makes genre-fluid music that plays as a soundtrack for the clubs, to the bedroom, to therapy sessions. Levi’s earned every bit of the sharpened edge coloring his voice on “RODEO”: Heartbroken, I’ve been that / In love, I did that / Tripped up, never fell back.

In the visualizers for Hydraulic, Levi gets his hands dirty, working as a mechanic at a body shop. It’s a sleek metaphor for the story he tells along this confessional ride: the intimate, hands-on care involved in repairing a relationship that ended in a crash. In a sonic collision of past and present, Levi channels Y2K-era influences—think Aaliyah’s self-titled, Brandy’s Full Moon, NSYNC’s Celebrity—over candy-painted melodies with a fresh, contemporary coat. It’s an adventurous and ambitious lane that Levi handles smoothly, and one he can easily accelerate further into on future projects.

Fragments of the wreckage haunt him on “EMPTY”: Used to see your clothes on the floor, now it’s empty. There’s a spaciousness in Yakob and Mike Snell’s production, as if framed around zero gravity. Such craftsmanship maximizes the impact of Levi’s harmonic layers and the echoing regret of “I just wanted you.” Streaming has cannibalized sequencing, training listeners to strip albums down to their favorites for playlists or to soundbite into TikToks. Yet Hydraulic is designed for a thorough listen, with each track flowing naturally into the next. “DON’T GO” interpolates Destiny’s Child’s “No, No, No” into a racy crunk-bounce that’s a welcome change of pace. The engineering feat lies in Hydraulic’s diverse soundscape, each track bearing the distinctive fingerprints of Levi’s artistic versatility.

When the tempo slows down, Levi’s range shines brightest. While the natural-born performer is known for hitting his “little dance, dance, dance,” Hydraulic’s handful of midtempos and atmospheric vibes will have you finding excuses for a night drive. “CARE 4 ME” is a neon-lit reflection on how tunnel vision for the person you want to be your “guarantee” can change you. Then a chopped-and-screwed detour hits the station. In one of the album’s most unexpected highlights, Levi’s vocals are sped up, as if his own soul becomes the song’s sample. Even the production dials into the yearning of a throwback to fully express his heartfelt dedication: “There’s a lot I won’t do, but the things I’d do for you / I wouldn’t do that shit for no one else.”Throughout the album, past and present are blended skillfully, but this explicit vintage interlude is a direction Levi should consider exploring more deeply.

After the devotion of “CARE 4 ME,” Levi faces modern dating’s mixed signals on the moody “HOLD ON.” London on Da Track then steers him into playful passion over an undulating bed of drums on the surefire hit “SAY IT.” As Hydraulic winds down, vulnerability creeps into the passenger seat. “BURNT OUT” captures the exhaustion of chasing dreams since childhood, and the song ends in a prayer that feels answered in the tentative hope of “HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE.” Acknowledging his faith through his world-weariness is perhaps the album’s bravest and most honest choice.

On his previous EPs (DISC ONE and DISC TWO), Levi leaned into an alternative edge. Traces linger in the anthem built for stadiums, “I CAN’T GO OUTSIDE.” The low-key guitar intro mirrors Levi’s grief before swelling in intensity on the chorus: “This city ain’t big enough / For the two of us / Running into you at every club / I can’t go outside / Outside ain’t big enough / For the both of us…” The song is a true creative high point, and it’s easy to imagine a constellation of cellphones illuminating a crowd singing along.

As he invites listeners to ride shotgun and witness his confessions, Hydraulic feels less like a debut and more like a breakthrough.  Fueled by emotion, Josh Levi proves he’s not just fine-tuning his sound; he’s building something lasting, one perfectly calibrated track at a time.

PRESSED PICKS

1. RODEO

2. EMPTY

3. CARE 4 ME 

4. HOLD ON

5. SAY IT

6. I CAN’T GO OUTSIDE