Five years ago, duo Thaba emerged onto the global stage with cool electrosoul on Eyes Rest Their Feet. It was a bittersweet moment. Mere months before this debut, lead vocalist Khusi Seremane–half of Thaba, at the time–passed away after long-term health problems, leaving producer Gabriel Cyr with a host of unfinished pieces beyond the first album.
For December/Sedimonthole, Cyr assembled these musical fragments with the help of an international collective of players to continue Thaba’s work. They’ve done a stellar job, not only of honoring Seremane’s existing work, but of opening up the project’s soundscape in ways that speak to the original duo’s interest in true and intimate collaboration. This interest manifests in December/Sedimonthole in the exquisite balance between raw emotion and plugged-in sounds, as well as in the many sonic strands that come together throughout the album.
The expanded personnel list is an intercontinental dream. Lollise Mbi, whose 2024 debut was a masterclass in exploring roots and routes, lends her richly expressive vocals to “Pale Hearts”. The track is dense with melancholy and inventive instrumentation, as guitarists Yohni Dungu-Sungu and Marcos Campello, and bassist Jonathan Granhoff, move in unpredictable directions alongside neon synths. She returns later, fully ablaze and once more beside electronic brilliance, for “Mmoloki”.
December/Sedimonthole by Thaba
The warmth of Seremane’s voice still permeates the record, taking the lead on half of the eight songs. On opening track “Fofa (When it Rains)”, his croon is all heart, weaving in and out of itself in layers ranging from very near to just on a jazzy horizon. He returns for “Bullets (Work & Deliver)”, a particularly gorgeous evocation of South African and diasporic popular forms with Joburger jazz guitarist Billy Monama plucking and rippling over David Byrne collaborator Mauro Refosco’s samba-adjacent percussion.
Seremane’s words are nimble on “The Avarian”, another of the most thrilling tracks for its spacious spaciness. He rises over dub beats and into Shelley Burgon’s hypnotic harp work on “Homeless Parts 1 & 2”. Even when his voice is not present, his spirit works in tandem with Cyr’s and their comrades’. Singer Nyasha Chiundiza sings their last joint composition, the jaunty “December”. Cyr takes the final track, “False Sense of Self”, into his own hands, especially poignant as a tribute, given the lyrics’ origin in Seremane’s student days.
Even if you didn’t know the story behind Thaba, the unlikely contact that began it, the tragedy of Seremane’s early passing, the many ways in which December/Sedimonthole pays tribute to him, you’d be hard pressed not to feel deeply moved by this album. Its mix of charming DIY beats and technical musical excellence, soulful lyrics, and wistful melodies makes for ephemeral moments of nostalgia and familiarity. New wave peeks through the first notes of “Fofa”. Domenica Fossati’s flute, alongside horns and keys, evokes some of the more engaging Wings singles on “December”, which nonetheless feel fresh.
With December/Sedimonthole, Gabriel Cyr makes abundantly clear that Thaba can exceed Khusi Seremane’s mortality while still keeping him alive through sounds and words. What happens next for the project remains to be seen; perhaps there are more tangible pieces of their shared work in the world, or possibly what they’ve already released will take Cyr in new directions. No matter what happens next for this project, though, December/Sedimonthole is an artistic triumph of sentiment and substance, and one worth spinning again and again.
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