When Baltimore Fishbowl spoke with Joy Postell, the singer and rapper said she saw the release show for her album “Diaspora” as a coming out party. “I know y’all saw me at the Crown and it wasn’t put together… but now y’all about to see me put together, and you’re about to see this complete.” Last Friday, the packed crowd at the Ottobar was treated to an elaborate set from Postell on a stage decorated with clouds and palm leaves, and a stacked opening lineup that included Josh Stokes, Butch Dawson, Bobbi Rush and Al Rogers Jr.

Check out our photos from the show.

I have been lucky enough to experience something special lately: On the one hand, the outside world has felt increasingly like a noose around my neck. But on the other, the universe has presented me with black women artists who remind me that I can fly.

In its big write-up on “The Changing Sound of Baltimore,” The New York Times said the music of local indie R&B artist Joy Postell “often acts as a reflection of what is happening in the world and as a means of speaking truth to power.”

Nowhere is that more clear than on new single “Water,” which opens with the spoken: “I used to believe money didn’t grow on trees/ until I started seeing men hang from them.”