SOUND EFFECTS

Words: Nhlanhla Masemola | Images: Supplied

Bongeziwe Mabandla moved to Johannesburg in 2007 to pursue a career in acting, but life had other plans in store for him. Over the years, the Xhosa singer-songwriter has steadily built a compelling music career that many artists dream about. Since the release of his second and critically lauded album, Mangaliso, which won the Best Alternative Music Album at the 2018 South African Music Awards, and teasing us with the release of singles Jikeleza and Zange last year, everyone has been eagerly awaiting his new sounds. Dropped just last Friday March 27, Mabandla’s new album, iimini, is the soulful reprieve we all need in this difficult time of heightened anxiety and isolation. A lighter departure from his previous albums, iimini centres around love and charts the oft-told story of a relationship, from its sweet beginnings to miserable end. The album is one you should listen to in its entirety, from start to finish, to really appreciate. It’s been a while since we last sat down with since we last sat down with Mabandla, so it’s only fitting that we touched base again to find out more about his musical journey and what – or who – inspired his latest album.

For those who may not be familiar with your music, how would you describe it?

My music very much has a storytelling element to it, but it’s soul music in the sense that it touches your soul and deals with feelings and emotions.

It’s been three years since we last caught up with you. Do you think your sound and identity as an artist have changed?

I think this growth is very important when I make albums. I want people to know that I'm growing up; that I'm no longer the same person I was three years ago. This is why I love making albums that have one theme. People get to know what I’m thinking about at that certain point in my life. In terms of my identity, it’s hard to pinpoint, but I’ve definitely matured. To even think about love and relationships, you have to be at a better place in life. My last album was about surviving life and death, so writing about love is a little bit lighter. But there are also so many big things, such as things from my childhood that I hadn’t really dealt with. That came up when I was writing this album.

What inspired the album’s name, iimini?

The whole album is like a journal and it follows a relationship from its beginning to its end. A lot of the songs were taken from things I'd written in my journal. I wanted to go back and write what I was experiencing and give the listener a timeline of where I was at that moment. If you follow the dates, you can tell that this is when the relationship ended and this is when a particular thing happened. This is why I called it iimini, meaning days. The days one would spend in a relationship with another person, the memories and experiences.

What were the key ideas or sentiments that you wanted to express on this album?

I really wanted to make the idea of falling in love topical, something to debate. To inspire people to think about what love means and looks like for them. I wanted to make love hip again. What I got out of putting this album together was getting back to the idea that the most important relationship any person can have is the one with themselves. As much as we all want romantic love and a connection, very few of us can experience joy within a relationship without experiencing joy by ourselves first. Someone who may look for love in different places should understand that it’s not really something that’s out there, it’s something more within.

How is this album different from your previous album, Mangaliso?

It’s different subject-wise. I’ve grown a lot. I started working with Bheki Khoza on the guitar and I think that really shows in how I write differently. Understanding the guitar a little better has enabled me to do things I've never done. When I started working with the guitar, I was like “I'm going to have a double bridge in the chorus and then have a change of key” and this and that. I can do these things, y’know? The limitations that I used to have aren’t there anymore.

What was the songwriting process like? Were there any challenges you faced personally?

Tiago [Correia-Paulo], the producer, is very creative and wants to do things in a certain way and we struggled to find a studio. We went to five different studios trying to find the right feel. That was when I was recording Zange, my most difficult song to record. I’d go to the studio and record for a few hours. It just wouldn’t be working there and we thought we should just go back to Tiago’s home studio. It was all about finding the right atmosphere. Then I tried to find my own studio space and record myself, but it still wasn’t good enough. It was very important for this album for me to be in a place where I could be myself and relax.

And how did you find collaborating with Tiago again?

Beautiful! I think it shows now that we’re friends and we’ve spent a lot of time together, unlike the previous album. This time, I got the chance to get to know him better, because he’s also in my band and we toured together. Sometimes Tiago would listen to something and say, “This is so dope, we should try to do something like this.” And if I heard something good, I’d ask if we could do a similar beat and such. He really pushed me to be free and write in a looser way with less structure. We both agreed that in this album, we were going to be extremely arty and do things for creativity’s sake. We recorded outside in the streets, we recorded rain, the sound of bottles, a few of my friends talking. We wanted it to feel like an experience. We were very much influenced by Frank Ocean, Solange and Childish Gambino.

Which other artists inspire you to make music?

I think I'm influenced by the artists that got me interested in music in the first place: Thandiswa Mazwai and Simphiwe Dana. Samthing Soweto may not be a direct influence, but makes music that I love. Anatii and Zoë Modiga, too. For this album, we were more influenced by R&B sounds and production.

How are you staying connected with your fans in this time of social distancing?

Social media has become the most important thing right now. I also think live shows offer something deeper than just watching videos. It’s more intimate. I’m really trying out all the ways to connect with my audience, but so far it’s through social media.

Stream iimini on Spotify or Apple Music