Soundway releases South African Bubblegum pop influenced album by Thaba

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Soundway releases South African Bubblegum pop influenced album by Thaba

Beginning as just a single track collaboration, and blossoming into it’s own project, Soundway has recently released the debut full-length album by Thaba, titled Eyes Rest Their Feet. This is a collaborative effort between the late South African singer/songwriter Khusi Seremane and American producer/musician Gabriel Cyr.

Originally connecting many years ago on Myspace Music through their mutual enthusiasm for kwaito, 90’s R&B, and classic downtempo, Cyr enlisted Seremane to sing on a track for a future Teleseen release (another project by Gabriel Cyr). Instead of focusing on that single song, Seremane sent Cyr a whole batch of ideas, which eventually evolved over the last half decade into an entire record. Tragically in July 2020, while the two were working with Soundway for the release of this music, Seremane died after battling health issues for several years. He sadly was only a few days past his 41st birthday.

Even though Seremane is no longer with us, the music that he produced with Cyr for the Eyes Rest Their Feet album, in my opinion, will be looked at as being completely original and well ahead of it’s time. On this ten-track recording, the duo fuse together left-field electronic beats, a touch of jazz instrumentation, and soulful vocals by Seremane with South African-influenced Bubblegum pop, New Wave, and Afro-synth grooves. Fans of Talk Talk, Brian Eno, Wally Badarou, Arthur Russell’s Calling Out of Context, and Soundway’s 2018 Gumba Fire should definitely take notice.

Overall, this is an absolutely brilliant album that is truly one of the most forward-thinking albums of the year. Shortly before Seremane’s untimely death, Cyr and Seremane were in the process of composing new music and therefore hopefully there are at least a few more tracks that will come out of this fruitful collaboration. Regardless, Eyes Rest Their Feet should be one of those albums that, in time, will be considered a timeless classic.