Space Afrika, the experimental duo of Joshua Inyang and Joshua Tarelle, will release an album on Dais Records.
As Space Afrika, the Manchester pair make music of what they term “overlapping moments,” which is to say oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, and texture. Honest Labour, their first full-length since 2020’s hybtwibt?, one of our favorite releases of 2020, expands the project’s palette with classical strings, shimmering guitar, and vocal cameos. We’re told that it leans further into the pair’s “enigmatic fusion of ambient and cosmic downtempo.”
The album title refers to a patriarch from Inyang’s Nigerian family tree, who was lovingly called “Honest Labour” for his loyalty and resilience, as well as the nature of Space Afrika’s music: a “labor of love.”
When Reid relocated to Berlin last fall, the pair began sharing files, piecing together poetic vignettes of looping haze and found sound, inspired by the notion of “records that leave an impression, and help the listener deal with their life.” As the isolation of the pandemic compounded with the worsening winter, the songs skewed towards introspective and emotive, reflecting a mood of “dissipating futures and the infinite nocturnal unknown.”
The motivations for Honest Labour are to transcend the sum of the pair’s influences, and “to show what we’re capable of,” we’re told. It features LA Timpa, blackhaine, and Bianca Scout.
In 2018, Inyang and Tarelle put out Somewhere Decent To Live, their debut album. And more recently, they shared Untitled (To Describe You), a patchwork EP of drill, bass, and reflective musique concrète.
Tracklisting
A1. yyyyyy2222
A2. indigo grit ft. guest
A3. lose you beau
A4. solemn
A5. lv
A6. preparing the perfect response ~
A7. ny interlude
A8. rings ft. guest
A9. noise sweet
A10. B£E ft. blackhaine
B1. like orchids
B2. meet me at sachas
B3. u ft. kinseyLloyd
B4. —
B5. girl scout cookies ft. Bianca Scout
B6. ladybird drone
B7. with your touch
B8. strength ft. LA Timpa
B9. honest labour
Honest Labour LP is scheduled for August 27 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “B£E” feat. blackhaine in full below and pre-order here.
