Music

afropunk premiere: ‘the lingering effects of disconnection’ – uk singer-songwriter daudi matsiko’s “raw, authentic & ultimately cathartic” new ep

November 27, 2015

Today we’re premiering the new EP from UK singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko, ‘The Lingering Effects of Disconnection‘ (described by the Nottingham-based musician as, “raw, authentic & ultimately cathartic”). His camp state: “With roots in Uganda and the UK, Daudi’s love affair with music began at the tender age of 8, and began to flourish during his teenage years when he put pen to paper and began to write his own material. A crucial part of his existence, music has served as a therapeutic outlet, comforting him through the troubles life has thrown his way, and has led to the development of his sincere and heartfelt musical style.” Listen to the EP below, and catch Daudi Matsiko on stage at the Jam Cafe December 3rd.

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

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Regarding the tracks, Daudi Matsiko tells us:

‘Sandwiches’
So this tune is more or less about the worst night I ever had/the build up to it. There’s been a few close contenders but this one takes the ‘worst night ever’ title, purely because it was completely internal and full on terrifying, for lack of a better description. I can’t honestly say it was fun to write. The riff at the beginning was sort of fun and groove laden but then once I started thinking about what I wanted to say in the song it became a bit of a burden honestly. It messed with my head being that honest. All of those words are true, sadly, you probably don’t want to look into that too hard… it’s a bit grim.

it’s not really about sandwiches. I was a mess, i still am in some ways. I suffered a mental break down and it was particularly harsh. Up to that point I’d been doing the classic “everything is fine/keep it all bottled up/avoid real life” routine for a while and made some terrible life choices that ended up being fuel for my neuroses. I’d also been living in London the year before and discovered that at the time I was probably better suited being the occasional visitor as opposed to the heavily depressed resident full of regret and self loathing, preferring to spend time with my head under a duvet nstead of with friends. I’d go days without speaking, eating or going outside. Just tyler the creator’s bastard and the book kill your friends… I didn’t really help my self at all. And Jelly babies from sainsburys, I ate loads of those. still love them. I can’t really listen to that tyler the creator record anymore or read that book again. Just a bit too heavy going back there.

Back to the breakdown… the devil section of the song is all from that. I basically crawled up in a ball on the bathroom floor for what felt like years thinking someone was going to come in there and end me… I watched the sun go down and come back up again. It felt like I was literally on fire, all my muscles seized up. I also thought there was a lion out in the hallway. It wasn’t good. That’s the song.

It felt like I was standing next to my house, it was on fire and there was nothing anyone could do.

On a side note… I have much better ways of dealing with depression now and I did get the help I needed. So things are way better these days.

‘Spilt Milk’
So this is about me and one of my best friends going through a pretty significant rough patch.
I think both of us felt pretty bad about the whole thing. I definitely regret a lot my end.
I can be fairly intense some times, I’m usually pretty mellow but every now and then I wig out and lack awareness of the feelings of people close to me. Part of the difficulty of this EP and the last one, is that they are really insular and only during the writing/recording process of this last one did I start to realise what everyone else had been going through on the other side of things… we fought a lot. Mostly because we cared. During recording I think everyone in the room broke down a little bit.

With this tune I just a felt like no matter what I do I always end up screwing up in some way. Constantly digging holes for myself. Expertly finding ways to make things worse. So yea this song’s a really happy and upbeat one.

‘Okay, since we’re being honest.’
Sort of trying to figure it out… I’ve spent ages trying to figure out why/how things happened the way they have/do.
There’s a million different versions of this song. More or less “i’m not pure of heart” is the simplest conclusion I can give to all of it. It’s where i am at the moment. At first I wanted to call it “conclusions and other accurate delusions” but that title was a bit too accurate and then I wanted to call it “i’m not depressed, I’m just realistic”… I think the song just sums up everything I felt I could say about how I feel about everything most days. Inadequacy, guilt, remorse and being incredibly lucky to have the best people in my life that I could ask for. It feels a bit like an apology… it probably should be. I’m incredibly lucky to be here. I’m pretty sure I don’t deserve to be.

‘Take me old’
This song was written in two parts about 18 months apart.
I’d been single for a while and just got a bit disheartened by all the messy relationships and baggage / short lived depressing nature of my past ones. I have a fair few insecurities about getting older, the idea that over time my mind could deteriorate to a point of no return. Dementia is pretty unimaginable, but I know what it feels like to loose control of who you are. It’s not a good feeling.
I was stuck on the first half of this song for ages. Eventually, I just decided to write about what I want a relationship to be like and the kind of person I’d like to think i’d be if those roles were ever the other way round. I was really inspired by a good friend of my family who is the perfect example of what it means to choose to love someone regardless of how impossible the situation is. I think anyone who gets even a glimpse of that in their lives would understand how amazing that is.

http://www.daudi.co.uk/
facebook.com/hellodaudi
twitter.com/hellodaudi
soundcloud.com/hellodaudi

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