Category: EP – 6 tracks, runtime – 20 min
Genre: Afrobeats
Release Date: 13.December.2024
Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ – 5.9/10
Disclaimer upfront; we’re dabbling in a subjective trade, excuse the implications. Sometimes, we feel compelled to say so. That hinted, there’s as much promise as there is incentive for frustration on here.
First with the highs, it’s not a sum of equal halves on the joint. One half shines more aptly than the other; the second, that is. The last three tracks defo have more attitude, cohesion of elements & adhesion of narratives, & star quality, than the initial three. In fact, if the feel & precision of the last half had been universalized to the whole, the project would be rather the banger. We hesitate to speculate, but it may have been down to only recording precisely as much was going on the joint, no luxury of a larger sample space for a more incisive curation when choosing what would make the cut. We get it, early birth pains of potential magic. Then again, that’s all speculation.
Certainly, the standout track from our vantage point was “Mad”.
There was a surprisingly delightful dragginess about the number, elevated by the unhesitant melodic impulse of it all. Stuff of anthems! It’s a bop, like yeah, you have us there. Regarding the support roster, we’d say, it was a draw, no particular standout. That’s no knock, it’s a match of proficiencies, which is a good thing.
Now to a closeup of the lows, the first three tracks were, for the lack of a better term, lowkey patchy.
Yet the team back here really wanted to love them. There was good will, trust! We love a good discovery tale. But alas, it was a shaky template, underdone, less compelling. I mean, but hey, something tells us it’s a temporal misstep.
Rooting for y’all. We’ll be keen to tag along for suaver journeys!
