" Experimental, moody, meditative. Like, there are electronic influences but live instrumentation is where my heart is so you'll hear loads of that as well. Lots of vocal layering and sonic layering, cause these are things I like. "
she said when asked to describe her first solo EP. Thando Mlambo is a multidisciplinary artist and musician that is great at collaborating but too seldom takes full credit for her brilliance.
" It (the EP) is self produced. I sing on it and I have three features:
Ulenni Okandlovu of Bantu Spaceship/s. We also have Malum Gorjuus who is a multidisciplinary creative and incredible artist. And we have KOSI - my younger brother and musical collaborator from SEAZN. "
She was wearing costum J-Sabelo as she prepared for the performance and launch, that she mainly organised herself. Stickers, bar, keychains and catering were all in place as well as other brilliant acts that shared the stage with her that evening.
" It's my first solo EP and it features songs that I made as far back as the summer of 2016. I was in New York at the time, I remember that. Some of the songs were made in London, which would have been 2018/19. And then the last song was made in November of 2022. "
There are many layers to Thando's music and work, and she easily finds and picks up on synergies.
" The title was inspired by this book by Ruth Ozeki called A Tale for the Time Being - which is this totally transformative story. Its treatise of being a time-being, touches on mental illness and meditation, like in the realest sense you know. "
Death, memory, ecological collapse and the female predicament has been said to be found in the post-Japanese tsunami novel, and can for sure be detected in the album as well.
Thando Mlambo is an artist and curator whose time seems to stretch out more than anyone else's. Parallel to releasing her latest solo EP herself, she writes songs with other award winning artists, tours with the band Bantu Spaceship, curates several events a month (and works a full time job in the national culture sector).
Additionally, a project together with her little brother and Canada based producer KOSI under the name SEAZN can be found on all streaming platforms.
It is difficult to label the genre of Thando's music, but it contains elements of soft jazz and electronic fusion beats. Combined with her deep, open voice and lyrics always touching on spiritual or naked subjects her music leaves no-one unmarked. These photos were taken just before she went on stage to preform on her release fest for the EP A Tale for the Time Being.