DESIRE MAREA - The Baddies Of Isandlwana

From personal history to the history of a people, and back again. The personal mirrors the general, narrates it, shapes it, even imagines it, when the occasion calls for it. Born of a moment of self-searching, of questioning one's place in the world but also in history, "The Baddies Of Isandlwana" closes out an extremely fruitful year for Desire Marea with three new songs, three openings onto a sonic and narrative universe in constant, relentless transformation. Informed by the Battle of Isandlwana, the first major clash of the Anglo-Zulu War (fought in 1879) and the site of a crushing victory for the troops of the Zulu Kingdom, the short EP delves not only into the past of South Africa and its people, but widens its gaze to the eternal dilemma of identity, and the role it plays in the space we inhabit. In an act of self-awareness that, by extension, also looks to the lives of LGBTQ servicemen, Marea embraces the robust jazz-rock sound that defined the triumphant "On The Romance Of Being" and charges it with danceable rhythms, gqom patterns and afrobeat that reconnect him to Umlazi, his hometown.

In just a few tracks, then, an entire universe is laid bare, one that benefits from the same musicians who accompanied the artist in the making of his last album. Through a band-based setup that approaches an almost orchestral dimension, Marea's sound reaches the full height of its expressive power, handling afrobeat's signature rhythmic patterns with all the freedom and creativity the moment demands, fitting them out with striking melodic stop-and-go moments, vibrant choral inserts, and polished prog-flavored passages ("The Only Way").

"If You Know", fittingly labeled by the artist himself as orchestral-gqom, pushes things even further, with brass and bass evoking the grandeur of early Hercules And Love Affair, but with an even more unsettling, nervous approach, born of a dramatic attitude that uses gqom's rhythmic darkness as a backdrop for a vibrant vocal performance. "Tholakele" closes things out, its sinuous jazz brushstrokes recalibrated in light of a refined choral interplay, in which the strings' character shines through at its most exquisite.

This EP, then, should not be seen as a mere completion of the album. Think of it instead as a dazzling companion piece, a refined play of prisms that amplifies the reach of a style explored with great skill. With its rich conceptual framework, Desire Marea's new journey once again carries us far away.

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24/11/2023