Since they were just a child growing up on the banks of the Kagera, the huge river that curls throughout East Africa, Kenyan multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer Kabeaushé realized there was a sparkle inside that set them apart from their peers.
As other kids assembled hierarchies and favored aggressive competition, Kabeaushé became obsessed with compassion, cuteness, and ecstatic softness; uninterested in friction, they were driven by a search for bliss that, in time, directed them towards music.
Inspired by Prince, Grace Jones, Bollywood soundtracks, and, more recently, the boundlessly creative hybrid sounds of Tyler the Creator, Kabeaushé slowly began assembling a unique style that melts together music and theater, cooking up songs that are as supple and funky as they are gentle and self-aware.
The Coming of Gaze is Kabeaushé’s ambitious debut statement, an album that’s as meticulously conceived as an acrobatic stage-show, and as flexible as a silk scarf. Within seconds of opening track Andnoword we’re gifted a sense of Kabeaushé’s genre-free vision, as gospel-funk chorals are punctuated with overdriven TR-808 thumps, chipmunked raps, angular guitar fuzz, and dancefloor-ready rhythms. It’s like an exuberant fusion of Kanye West, OutKast, and Spank Rock, re-painted in East African neons. On Bully Me Kabeaushé breaks down the complexities of their character, sweetly cooing over brittle Atlanta-influenced trills, flipping dexterously between earworm choruses and rubbery raps.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below, and order The Coming of Gaze here
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