South African rapper Sipho The Gift just released his 3-track EP Good Things Come In 3s, which offers an interesting perspective on intimacy. It follows his debut album, 2017's Kintsugi, a deeply cathartic record made from a place of gloom.
For it's part, Good Things Come in 3s is a jazzier and more colourful offering. The exquisite production is handled by the innanetwav's oshxku who's previously worked with The Big Hash. The EP comes in at just over three minutes, with each track successively bleeding into the next.
"Kintsugi was kind of dark and therapeutic," Sipho reveals, "I made this in a creative space while working on my album. I asked oshxku to send me anything he was working on, and he sent me what sounded like the foundation for an idea I always wanted to try—a continuously flowing EP."
The musicality of Good Things Come In 3s is a sign of what's to come from Sipho's impending album, iNDiGO, scheduled for release in March.
"iNDiGO is a perfect follow-up to Kintsugi in the sense that it's much lighter after the catharsis. I'm really proud of the steps I've taken to elevate my craft; there's live guitar, bass, keys and strings. It's even more musical than this EP actually. I was blessed and fortunate enough to get some live elements for the production and even check some personal goals off the bucket list."
Normally a conceptual writer, iNDiGO will see Sipho The Gift focus on sound and feeling, something oshxku's production allowed him on GTC3s.
"I tend to make concept-heavy music, so with this, the goal was to gracefully and briefly tease a sneak peek into my passionate, intimate side. I think it's even easier when working with someone as creative as oshxku, and it's always refreshing to just focus on what's presented to me."
Made specifically for release in the month of love, Good Things Come In 3s explores different aspects of romance. The three short tracks each address the moments leading to the culmination of a romantic coupling.
The EP closes with "Act 3: WAVES," which features wittily-devised lyrics like. "Legs 'round my neck like some jewellery," and "Scratch on my back, look like a slave."
"'WAVES' is lowkey about the ebb and flow of things," Sipho says. "The duplicity of things, if you wanna go that route. So in the intimacy of things I choose to, with bravado, adorn her legs as jewelry and admire them as they glisten. But on the flip side, I can drown in the waves, become swept in the current and lose control or be enslaved to these acts of passion."
If Good Things Come In 3s, in its captivating brevity, is anything to go by, we're in for treat with iNDiGO.
For more good things, follow Sipho The Gift and oshxku on Twitter: @itsmesipho, @oshxku.