Music commentary, when it’s not the author’s braggish way of telling us they understand and appreciate genres of music that the rest of us know not, it can be a way to save us the time and trauma of enduring tracks on an album that are only there so that people can says it’s a 12 track album and not a 10 track album.
People don’t quite have the time to go through an entire album of new music lately even if it’s one of their favourite artists and with good reason, there very rarely is an album with 10 solid tracks where the lyrical genius met instrumental mastery and boom, that very thing we call music, good music, was born. Ofcourse when I say people, I purposefully exclude the Beyhive. They’ll gleefully sit through hours of Beyoncé breathing so they don’t count.
This brief piece of music commentary hopes to do just that for you; to save you the time I wish someone had saved me when I sat through Jidennna’s most recent 11 track album hoping, just hoping to find my next favourite jam. I hour plus and alas, all forgettable. How dare I say forgettable? Well, precisely because I don’t remember any song from it right now, and yes, it is the job of those who can’t do, to critic, so here we are. I picked that Jidenna album, whose name I don’t remember and couldn’t even be bothered to google even for the purpose of this piece of writing even though I could have listened to Chris Brown’s Indigo album which came out at around the same time because I had listened to the story of its making and I just though it would stand out.
You see, Jidenna had been kicked out of his Atlanta mansion around the time he was starting work on that album, an unfortunate turn of events had woven his path back to Africa and the rest of the album had been finished on different parts of the continent from Nigeria to South Africa. Now if you loved Particula half as much as I did and you understand the Adele effect which promises that out of tragedy will arise unforgettable music, you understand my frustration after I clicked song after song and couldn’t find one song to fall in love with.
This long-winded explanation is why I will do the listening and hopefully spare you the anguish by telling you which songs to skip or which album to skip past altogether.
First on our list is; Midnight Train – Sauti Sol’s new album, released on June 5th. First of all, let’s all make it a goal to really make money in our lifetime, because I think Chimano actually looks good; yes the shorter one, who wouldn’t get a second look from many of us (many of you, I’ll exclude myself, I’ve been down on my luck lately, I’m not that picky anymore) but since he is a member of a renown and accomplished group, here we are talking about him, but I digress.
I’ll get right to it, if you are looking for the soul in Sauti Sol, your jams on this album are Feel the love, Sober and Insecure. The band has come to make songs that even we with 2 left feet can shuffle to at weddings but they really do deliver on that soulful RnB thing; These three really songs bring that ballad vibe. Cowritten by South African artist Ndumiso Manana and uncomplicated by a mess of instruments, just a guitar, violin and solo verses with the occasional harmonies, this song, is simply beautiful.
Sanyu FM thinks so too, and not just about this 3 other songs from the album played one after the other in a space of about 10 minutes as I sat in the curfew hour traffic.
Bien does an impressive and purist opening verse on the 11th track, Sober, much like he did in Short and Sweet, this, for me is the most exquisitely written song with album. I am equal parts inspired and attacked by the words. The decision to let the vocals carry the song with the melody in a supporting role was genius.
Disco Matanga is house collaboration with Sho Madjozi and Black Motion, the kind of thing that you might dance to if the UG Coco has found a place in your spirit at around 1:00am and you are dancing to anything. I understand why they would want a Sho Madjozi collaboration but its underwhelming, but if you like Sauti Sol and house music, well, who knows, this could be your jam.
Track 9, My Everything is a collaboration with India Arie, which is okay at best but forgettable. Does she elevate the song in a special way? No, not according to me anyway. But I suppose for legitimacy they must seriously consider collaborations with western artists. If you ask me they don’t need this legitimacy they are trying for. India Arie repeats Bien’s words from the first verse almost word for word, so if that sort of thing annoys you, just skip this song, you won’t miss much.
For the day one home fan, you get Nenda Lote , 100% Kiswahili – the story here seems interesting but if you want to enjoy the song ask someone whose Kiswahili is decent and Google translate doesn’t count. For some reason, I thought they had done a rendition of Shauri Yako – because I remembered the words “ nenda lote” from there. Imagine that, Sauti Sol’s modern spin on Shauri Yako – I am sowing a seed for something, just watch….
Rhumba Japani – collaboration with everyone and their mother, a song they probably did just to get their friends together but it has the potential to be a jam you could dance to. This might also be the only song on the album that might inspire a dance craze; I use the word craze cautiously though so perhaps let’s say dance routine.
Midnight train, the song after which the album is titled has a inspirational upbeat groovy vibe and if I had to guess was written in the same week or day as Brighter days which features the Soweto Gospel Choir and fulfills the Gospel quota of the album.
Finally, the song after which the album should have been named, although I don’t know how these things work, the one that needs no introduction, is still and will be the most memorable of them all – Suzannah. I can’t wait for the world to be fully functional again so that I hear the crowds’ reactions when that guitar opening of Suzannah plays – gets me every time.
Comment