Most name changes in music feel like a calculated reset button—a clean slate designed to pivot the brand or reset the algorithm. But when the Adelaide hip-hop artist previously known as Ridgy dropped his former moniker in favor of a single symbol—~—it didn’t feel like a PR reinvention.
In math and grammar, a tilde denotes approximation. It points to something fluid, something incomplete, something still in the middle of taking shape. That single, bent mark says everything you need to know about where he’s at on his latest full-length project, Eyes to See and Ears to Hear.
Since surfacing in 2020, the South Australian musician—who cut his teeth early on piano and guitar before forging ties with underground staples like MAVI, Camden Malik, and the Hidden Renaissance collective—has used his music less as a showcase and more as a personal processing unit. If his past work was about figuring out how to construct a sound, this record is about learning how to sit with himself.
The music here is built on dust-dusted sample loops, slow-burning grooves, and a deep warmth, but it never feels overly polished or eager to please. Instead, it plays out like a collection of late-night field notes on self-doubt, personal boundaries, and spiritual stamina. On the opener, “The road I go,” a wave of reverb-drenched loops settles over a heavy, rolling bassline. There’s no sudden drop or aggressive hook trying to drag you in; he just opens the door, lets the atmosphere fill the room, and begins to talk. That patience carries over into “I’ll get to where I’m going,” where guest KAYEMJAE helps bridge warm, gospel-tinted chords with rough-edged percussion. The track isn’t about bragging about the finish line—it’s about the unglamorous, everyday choice to just keep showing up.
While the Wakai-assisted “Techniques” injects a necessary, easygoing bounce into the tracklist, the album’s true strength lies in its quietest moments. “A walk in my mind” pairs off-kilter, glitching drums with dreamlike keys to open an intimate window into a private headspace, while “We’ll make it out again” pulls the tempo down to a slow crawl, letting heavy emotions hang in the air without letting the mood completely sour into hopelessness. That reflective space builds even further on “Jacob’s ladder” (featuring austin fox), which stacks soulful elements brick by brick, allowing the track’s emotional weight to accumulate naturally until the payoff lands without feeling orchestrated.
By the time the warm haze of “Love’s silent dawn” dissolves into the closing track, “Brand new day,” the atmosphere noticeably lightens. Over a stripped-back, ambient backdrop, ~ delivers his most direct, unfiltered pen work on the entire record. There are no neat bow-ties or grand conclusions handed out at the end. Instead, it captures that specific, quiet exhale that comes when a heavy storm finally passes and you realize you’re still standing.
Eyes to See and Ears to Hear doesn’t pretend to have life figured out, nor is it in any rush to prove itself to a casual scroll. It’s simply a well-crafted, deeply human snapshot of an artist paying close attention to his life, making sense of how he got here, and finding reason enough to take the next step.
Eyes to See and Ears to Hear is available to stream now.
Connect with ~: Instagram
