Lyricism: 3.5 / 5
Style of Delivery: 3.5 / 5
Content: 4 / 5
Musical Production: 4 / 5
Quality: 2.5 / 5
Arrangement: 2 / 5
Concept: 3.5 / 5
Originality / Creativity: 3.5 / 5
This is an in-depth review, it is approximately 1800 words “too short” but I do not babble about, I offer my best evaluation of what I think is a defining album in Malawi right now both in the secular and gospel spheres and in the international and local circles. It will take you 10 minutes to read but i am sure it will enlighten you. Please enjoy and be informed…
Before we begin, you might have noticed that the first single released for this project does not make it on the album, a track titled “The Return”. David had it removed so as to avoid controversy that had been circling it and would have clouded the overall message of the album which is far more important, and I agree. First of all, the intro prepares you well for the musical diversity of the album. A hip-hop album that kicks it off with rock is far from conventional; it’s original in Malawi, and creative. James Ryle’s hoarse voice captivates the listener for a crucial message: the new generation shall reach out to many through music. The second prophecy is by David himself that through Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, shall flow rich revival. The intro was 3 minutes too long, having said that I cannot foresee it being shorter than what it is without watering it down but an intro is supposed to be sweet, short, and preparatory. “Exodus pt.4” and “Redemption” are two songs in this album where David exercises great story-telling ability. In “Exodus pt.4”, David kills off Stix in dramatic fashion but the song with the greatest depth if you have the insight to see it is “Redemption”. A story of a young bright man named Taucha (a play on the word Chauta meaning “God”) who has a son born to him, his “one and only begotten son” Sankho whose mother, Mary, dies in childbirth. Taucha’s son, is brutally murdered on his 33rd birthday and at this point in time the listener should realize that the murderer is you and me and Sankho is a play on Jesus (Sankho meaning Chosen One or Messiah or Christ). Taucha the judge clears the murderer of all charges and forgives him for killing his son who “looked just like him” and did everything his father used to do. Taucha goes one step further and adopts his son’s murderer as his own son – this is quite simply a story of…redemption. YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: there will be a Redemption pt.2 and pt.3 including a book that David himself will author.
David also shows us he is a capable songwriter. He wrote all the music that you hear in the project and enlists the voices of Lawi, Jonathan Tembo and Tarrita to convey messages that are wholly his own. In “Euthanasia” more than 75% of the song is sung by Tarrita and in “Your presence” David’s words are well sung again by Tarrita; David does not even feature at all vocally on the song but his input is first hand. “Your presence” has a powerful message throughout but towards the end of the song: “how will they know that you love us? /how will they know that we are your children? /how will they know that you chose us? /how shall they see that we are your children?” (sang in Chichewa) is simply answered by the phrase “Your presence”. It is God’s presence with us that separates us from everyone else. In an industry where many can sing wonderful gospel music but not be in a relationship with God, it is only those artists who have the presence of God with them that are validated as God’s own children and chosen ones. Furthermore, David himself sings in the concluding parts of “As you grow” and on the hook for “Alipo” where he is backed by Tarrita. Artists should push the envelope when it comes to their art. I personally know that David had vocal training sessions so as to carefully express himself musically. Even though he kept to low notes it showed artistic variety. David also switched it up with his rap style in “Alipo”; and he altered his tone for his first verse as “Joseph” in Exodus pt.4 enough that my 13 year old nephew asked me who Joseph is – that’s good “rap acting”.
Listening to projects like “Amped” by 116 Clique, you will see that the concept of taking music that has been previously released in other projects and re-releasing them with different instrumentation is not new and is a successful means of conveying messages. Whilst not many will like the fact that at least 30% of the songs in this album are not “new” we must realize that there is a much bigger audience now than when they were first released approximately 5 years ago, and David’s target audience is also international hence the cameo appearance by MC Jin. There are newer listeners who are listening to Exodus pt.1 for the first time! Furthermore, the creativity of the instrumentation is clever and I absolutely appreciate it although I do not want to encourage “track-recycling”. 116 Cliques “Amped” is different because it was exclusively a remix project so you knew what you were getting, but a new project with old material is like sewing an old patch on a new pair of trousers, or new wine into old wine-skins. David upholds he didn’t want to call this project an album in the first place but a “preview” into him as an artist and what you can expect from him in the upcoming years.
Perhaps the most musically creative song and the one with the greatest probability of emotional transference is “Ulendo”, a most fitting tribute to the late Wisdom Chitedze. A fusion of at least 5 different songs coming together effortlessly, providing one of the best songs of dedication I have ever heard. In addition to this, David utilizes very few but effective features with Lawi, Tarrita and K.B.G. These artists match David artistically and I’ll use this opportunity to talk about haphazard features. Much of the features in Malawian music are poor, you have inconsistency that is not stemming from style but inconsistency in delivery, content and discipline. There are very few features in Malawi music where we can say that the artists complimented each other. Features also have the ability to break or make a project.
The first thing I noticed is that track-transition is not smooth. The change from one track to another is hurried and as a result the track you are listening to ends prematurely and the next song starts with a chunk of the previous one. The track transition on I-tunes was easy but poor on other players like VLC and even worst on Windows Media Player. An album should have a universal nature: I played this album in the car and it was “drastically” different from when I played it off my ipod and although the quality is far improved from “The Lost Tapes”, there are still quality woes and most of them are evident in the older songs which were revamped for this project. Some of the problems are too technical and maybe only other producers will pick them up, things having to do with decay methods, periodic effects, equalizers, 3D sound-fields etc are things that I won’t look into but certainly needed work on some of the songs on this album. David is still an unsigned artist and I believe that there will be international record labels out to sign him and when they use his music as demo’s they will be able to discern and expose the smallest of quality blemishes with their expensive speakers, this could determine a lot for him. Apart from that, we as listeners also deserve the best. Others will feel as though all this noise I make about quality is too much and they will say: “at least the message is being preached”. I think that particular attitude reflects how you feel about this “message” you preach. The secular industry gives out their message with such care and due diligence but our message is more important and highly esteemed! I think we must capture an aspect of God in our music, and that aspect is excellence. I am not too happy with song arrangement. Personally, I prefer an excited high tempo start to an album and it progresses towards a slower paced melodic conclusion. Psychology plays a large part in song arrangement and it prepares a listeners mood and levels of apprehension. “Redemption” is the 2nd track on the album but it is slow tempo and very deep – I think it should have been placed mid-way through the album. I imagine after having jived to “Alipo” and “Psalm 51”, for example, I would be mentally and emotionally ready for “Redemption”. Another idea I want to talk about is the idea of “the launch” versus “the release” and I am not playing with words because they are not the same thing. Malawi is characterized by the “mix-tape launch” or “the album launch” and we need to gravitate away from that “culture”. A healthy release looks like this: the album is submitted to the public and disseminated, along with tour details for tour dates and concert venues. At “launches” we are introduced to music that is new to us and we are expected to sing along! The rapper stands in-front of a crowd that can’t sing along or fully enjoy the music because it is foreign to the audience. As a result, concerts are dry. Thereafter, the project is forgotten after a month and expected to gain public ground by itself. The release acquaints people with the music before concerts so that when the tour begins people know the music and can give artists sufficient feedback on stage. I am glad this project was released in a professional manner. Lastly, it is just as well “The Return” never made it onto the album because all the songs will NOT fit onto audio CD as it surpasses the storage capacity range. I suppose this is poor foresight on the part of planning on CD production especially since there were plans to include skits onto the CD version of the album.
I offer words of commendation to David for his work ethic. For being completely in control of the creative direction of his album including its technical aspects – sitting down and telling his producers and engineers exactly what he wants and being present for the engineering processes behind the music. This is work that shouldn’t be surrendered into the hands of people who are only there for support service, if you are an artist you must be wholly in charge of your project development. I am waiting for his up-coming projects, if you do not know them yet then Sharp Iron gives it to you first: The Lost Tapes Vol.2; Spirit Filled Vol.3; and the Sleeping Giant (not to be released in this order). I hope material in these projects will be wholly new which will offer David the opportunity to show us that he is able to continue setting standards in music, secular and gospel, international and local.
To download music from Exodus: The Preview: http://www.malawi-music.com/artist/D/167
To view the Arise Inc. Website: http://www.ariseincmw.com
