- The mixtape released alongside Mikael Seifu's Zelalem is at least as illuminating as the EP itself. Collecting 50 minutes of folk music from Seifu's native Ethiopia, it's a diverse selection of songs but with some common qualities: loose, hypnotic repetitions, incantatory voices and a wonderfully serene mood. Seifu, who brings these characteristics to bear on contemporary electronic music, claims inspiration from Ethio-jazz, whose creator also wanted to reconcile his studies in the West with the traditions of his homeland. Seifu went to college in the US, but is mostly drawn to British styles—specifically, the sad drift of post-Burial electronica.
As with a lot of Burial-influenced music, there's a risk of over-emoting. Parts of the producer's RVNG debut are sodden with melancholy. "Soul Manifest" starts well, its drums shuffling like a defective Timbaland beat behind an impressionistic fog of melody. But a midpoint rap from L.A. sits awkwardly in its surroundings, and the singing voice that then takes the rudder steers us close to bad Balearic chillout.
Elsewhere, Seifu strikes a delicate balance between his influences, and finds a sound unlike anything else. "Solipsist" is the empty landscape left behind by the folk musicians: only hazy smears of the music remain, nudged along by a garage-like beat. A couple of figures enter the frame in the latter half—a plucked string instrument (a krar maybe?) and a distant, grizzled voice—but they're dwarfed by the pristine space they wander through. On "How To Save A Life (Vector Of Eternity)," sinuous flutes and strings sketch microtonal melodies over a strange, edge-of-the-seat groove. "ዘላለም (Vector of Light)" segues from a beatless intro into a clattering drum track, before bringing the two together for a shimmering climax.
Through most of this, Seifu's agenda is cleverly submerged in the strange, absorbing music. When it surfaces, as on opener "The Protectors," it does so obliquely. That track samples a speech from Trinidadian-American civil rights activist Kwame Turé, discussing the need to bring political "consciousness" to people fighting for their freedom from oppression. On Seifu's EP, whose title translates as "eternity" and whose music glows with devotion, his words show a spiritual side.
TracklistA1 The Protectors
A2 The Solipsist
A3 Soul Manifest feat. L.A.
B1 How To Save a Life (Vector Of Eternity)
B2 ዘላለም (Vector Of Light)