Sauti Sol Entertainment; 2014
Dir. Enos Olik/Bokeh Family
2014 is proving to be quite the year music-wise, with close to 5 solid album releases in the last quarter already and no signs of a let up. Heck, this light just be the one random year we may finally have enough (good) albums floating around to compile a Top Ten list, who knows. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I can tell you right now that Sauti Sol’s upcoming third album will undoubtedly be a strong contender among the releases that will get our kudos after all is said and done. Their opening single Still The One proved a very strong start and a great re-introduction to their core sound (read our review HERE). The boys are now back with yet another offering entitled Nishike.
Nishike marks a slight departure in the usual tone, if not the usual theme of a standard Sauti Sol track – usually warm love songs that make you want to cuddle up (in the most non-aggressive way possible) and drift into sweet daydreams of first loves etc… you get the drift. Ladies and gentlemen, Nishike is made from slightly stronger and sexier stuff. Yes, someone went and turned the sexy dial all the way up on this track. While the track is all about getting freaky in between the sheets, it is lyrically executed in that mild, perhaps-a-bit-too-tender manner prevalent in most of the band’s recent hits, which is all well and good, but the rest of the production does the job of completing the track’s intended look and feel.
Production-wise, Kagwe Mungai has laid some very immaculate beats on the song, proving that he should be taken extremely seriously as a producer. The laid back, seductive synth sounds peppered with non-intrusive percussion that Kagwe has whipped up takes the baby making oomph of the track to a whole new level. That he did not succumb to the temptation of putting too much into the beats and put in just enough not to make it sound stripped down is impressive.
Enos Olik directs the music video which turns out to be the final, perfectly-fitting piece of the overall production. The concept is pretty much straightforward – the boys (and some pretty ladies) getting to walk the talk and show us exactly what they mean when they say “Nishike”. And there are points it gets raunchy in a good way. Watch it to see exactly what I mean.
THE BOTTOM LINE
While the track doesn’t really deviate from what we expect a Sauti Sol track to sound like, its nice to see them do something a bit racier.