Our norm is to review musical output within a month of its release, for obvious contextual and artistic reasons. But in this series, we’ll do something more adventurous and monumental.
First, we’ll review an EP from a quarter of a year (3 months) ago, i.e., “Proof of Life” [pictured above as the face of the piece] by Baru & SoundlykBB. Then we’ll thrust ourselves even farther backwards and review a release from one full year ago. After then, we’ll evaluate a musical work from half a decade ago, and artistically contextualize it in relation to the last two previous reviews as to relay a sonic evolution and extract social commentary from the passage of time between the releases. Upping the quest, we’ll proceed to review an output from a full decade ago, after which we’ll end up evaluating a release from half a century ago. The last in the series will be a piece knitting the multi-release, multi-genre, time-spaced collection of reviews into a coherent, nuanced sonic and social narrative.
Let the adventure begin: review 1
Artist(s): Baru & Soundlykbb [the latter pictured below]
Title: “Proof of Life”
Category: EP – 5 tracks, runtime – 13 min
Genre: Afrobeats, Afro-fusion
Release Date: 31/05/2024
Rating: ★ ★★★★★★★☆☆ – 8/10
Moderation is Baru’s & Soundlykbb’s secret sauce on “Proof of Life”. The resulting Extended Play is anything but moderate though, thankfully! From the croony opener “Room Temperature”, Soundlykbb’s laid-back vocals are buoyed by Baru’s suave synths & beats, pronounced enough to evoke a head bob but not overpowering. Teasy & short, it’s easy to be caught off guard by its echoing end.
“Amazina”, the standout track from the bunch, takes it upon itself to up the energy from that point. Starting out with muffled percussion, the intro is atmospheric, yet not too much to take away from the track’s hedonistic theme. It sprouts into a dancey number. And it’s hard to stay fully still every time Soundlykbb gets into that infectious refrain “amazina go-go-go, amazina g’ozina”.
In theory, it seems counter-intuitive to then lower the tempo on the next track, yet the duo do exactly that, to delightful effect too. No energy is lost, only redirected, thanks to some extra help from Likkle Bangi who features on “Lighter”, a trippy reggae-framed number about personal liberation & agency, and “Confession” on which her Rihanna-esque vocals are entrancing enough to make up for the borderline corniness of Soundlykbb’s repetitive line “Confession in a studio session…” Yeah, he does say that. Fortunately, it somehow sounds better on the track than in written form, trust!
The closer, “Diamond”, is the most instrumentally organic of all the tracks. Fittingly so. Ushered in by a bassy intro & sensual guitar leaks which never let up, the piece has the pair at their most vulnerable: “Baby, let’s go away from here/I don’t like when people stare,” goes the pre-chorus. The same delicateness is amplified by the spacey single-worded chorus that carries the tune, even up to a halt.
The duo, & Likkle Bangi for her part, have served up a commendable effort as a whole. Still, you get the feeling that the output is mildly restrained in how more sonically & lyrically dynamic it could be, most probably in a bid to maintain thematic cohesion among the tracks. That’s not to say there’s no range in the result. Because there is; enough to make for an enjoyable listen across the runtime.
