Sophomores are usually a tougher cast for artists to break through, especially when such a question is imposed on tried-and-tested artists with solid debuts and charting singles too many to count. Conundrums like this are further worsened by the pressures of maintaining mainstream appeal and keeping up with rising acts competing for the spotlight and the hearts of the same audience already won over. And so, the story of amapiano vocalist Basetsana “Bassie” Maluleke is set over the backdrop of all these conditions. Three years since the release of her first, the “Ngiyazifela” star released her second full-length offering, Umculo, on the 6th of December.
Substantially longer than the project which kickstarted her discography as a solo act – in both overall length and track list number – Umculo primarily features amapiano composition coloured with subtleties of R&B, gospel, and deep-house music. With a rather lardy playback time of one hour and twenty-two minutes, the songstress collaborates extensively with T-Man SA, while enlisting the hands of Soa Mattrix among others as well as features from soulful singers including Azana, Russell Zuma, and Sykes. Too many cooks spoil the broth, but in this case, the contributions of the songwriters and composers, impart a richer taste to Umculo, which is a treat savoury to the soul and the spirit.
Bassie | SUPPLIED
With this album, Maluleke stablises the consistency of its nature by remaining vulnerable for the majority of the record. Although the album is named “umculo“, the Nguni word for music, the title relative to the content transforms into a placeholder upon each listen. This is evident in the LP’s opener which just so happens to also be named after the album. A collaboration with Sykes, Bassie sings: “Umculo impilo, umculo uthando” over lush and cinematic production of clockwork chord progressions, tribal drums, and sonorous log drums selected to induce meditation. Questioning where she would be without music in her lyrics, the intro maps out the album, giving shape to the themes which are expanded upon as the play button moves from one song to next – themes surrounding love and life.
The spectrum of love is pervasive in the album. From ballads of lovesickness that see her and Russell Zuma pining for each other’s love with a palpable sense of loss and yearning on “Maduze” to soliloquies of a woman has all but had it with love and wanted nothing more than to be left alone (“Hamba”), Umculo gives dimension to the subject, darkening it with shades of emotional turmoil and heartbreak to offset the giddy butterflies of the honeymoon phase as heard on “Everyday”. There is a sense of realism to the way romance plays out on Umculo, lending the theme depth and variety.
Listen to “Umculo (Intro)”:
Life is thematically explored through two distinct aspects in the LP: the physical and the spiritual, and at times the two subthemes overlap. The album spotlights the importance of divine guidance and favour in life, such as on “Ngibusiswe” and “Impilo Engcono”, which include overt prayers to God whilst the former contains modified interpolations of The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23) by amazonian singer-songwriter Azana. On one hand, Bassie looks over her shoulder with a sense of gratitude after making it through the hard times (“Ngibusisiwe”), and on the other, she peers to the future with hopes of a better life as heard on “Sekuseduzane”. Whichever way the tree falls, the album acknowledges the inextricable link between the world and the forces of the other side by making the most out of both realms.
Umculo’s greatest attribute is Bassie’s vulnerability and the lack of pretense in the way she presents herself and her stories. It is clear that the songstress isn’t at any given point making a concerted attempt at crafting a hit record. The album is an affair of expressing rather than impressing. There is nothing self-conscious about the sound or the lyricism. The music does all the talking and every word ripples with undeniable sincerity.
Preview Umculo:
