Album Review: Luba Magnus, Baba Luba

”Welcome to my brain!” Luba Magnus offers off the top of Baba Luba, the comedian/animator’s first live stand-up album. It quickly proves a deep, delightful dive into an indelible talent’s way of thinking: offering riffs on asparagus, dating life, and what she was and wasn’t allowed to watch growing up, Baba Luba proves a wonderful introduction to Magnus’s comic sensibilities. 

Recorded at Toronto’s Peach Berserk in November, Baba Luba mixes whimsy, self-reflection, and perfectly oddball observations. Whether haunting her exes through a commercial on Sportsnet—“Monday Night Football hits a bit different when it’s sponsored by a woman scorned!”—reframing classic poetry to the rhythms of an ‘80s hair metal song, or delivering a closing run of tiny jokes (backed by slide guitar from Harley Haskett), Magnus sustains a warm absurdity throughout the album. 

Standout moments include “Canal Days”, which recounts which letters would get stolen from signs in her hometown, as well as the perils of living underneath a concert pianist and her attempts to get better at winking. But it all works well here: even a slight mis-delivery in one joke’s set-up leads to a hilarious tangent about Magnus watching someone do an impression of her. Magnus’s command of her material and uniquely whimsical style keeps Baba Luba brimming with an ethereal sense of mischief.

Baba Luba was released on February 4, 2022 on Howl & Roar Records.
Listen to it here.