capespring.’s ‘diodrama’ Encourages Us To Find Peace Within Ourselves
It’s an unforgivingly hot Nairobi afternoon. I head to our rendezvous at The Nairobi Arboretum hoping that as it approaches golden hour, the weather will have cooled down in time for my meeting with capespring. High school student by day, artist by night, the 17-year old Nairobi native first crossed my radar with the 2020 release of his hazy, bedroom pop tinged debut EP, duality. His vulnerability juxtaposed with off-kilter production coupled his ability to craft catchy hooks caught my attention. Self-identifying as a bedroom producer, capespring. is lending his voice to Nairobi’s new avant-garde.
Born Polo Onguru, capespring. is a portmanteau reminiscent of youth and new beginnings inspired by his time spent in Cape Town and spring. Dressed in a North Face wind breaker, khaki cargo pants and jet black Nike sneakers, capespring.’s demeanour is cool, friendly, and indicative of wisdom beyond his years.
Early encounters with Garageband on his dad's laptop at the age of 10 sparked capespring.’s interest in music. “I had my dad's laptop which had Garageband on it. And I used to use apple loops all the time and then think I'm the best producer,” he recounts. Later on in high school, through being enrolled in music class, the young doyen was given access to Logic. “I asked my music teacher, “Can you hook me up with a version of logic?” And that's still the same one I use today,” he recounts. The release of berries which was his official introduction to releasing music professionally.
capespring.’s latest offering, diodrama, is yet another intimate trip through his subconscious and is characterized by fusions of traditional hip-hop, dark pop sensibilities and elements of R&B. The EP’s title is a portmanteau, coined from a combination of diorama and drama. “Diorama is a sequence of 3D images that tell a story. And drama comes from the fact that it's a sort of dramatic story,” capespring. elucidates. Unafraid of letting his guard down in his music, capespring. weaves a relatable story of a person looking for love in order to rid him of his problems but inevitably discovering that he first needs to work on himself.
diodrama opens with indigo, a brooding track scored by off-kilter sonic elements that sets the stage. capespring croons, “I-I don’t think I’m okay” on the songs eerie yet catchy hook, indicative of the EP’s tumultuous motif, and later confesses, “Getting with you would mean all my problems don’t need solving”.
“It's about this guy who thinks that getting with this girl will solve all his problems and make him a happier person.”
The EP is softened by woozy R&B track puppy feat. Jomande. Carried by sticky electric guitar patterns, puppy is an ode to young love. Things take a turn on the projects interlude, voicemail . We hear capespring. express frustration over missed calls. angst is the projects sporadic climax. capespring.’s anxiety and anger at being ghosted is palpable, his lyrics complimented by grungy rock guitar patterns.
Underpinned by delicate piano patterns and overlaid with trap production, we hear capespring. croon, “It's not even about you girl/It's not even about your world” on the project’s final, titular track diodrama. Through self-reflection, the protagonist resignedly chooses friendship realizing that there are deeper issues he need to resolve in order for the relationship to progress healthily. capespring. reflects that, “this has been a whole lesson about dealing with things internally before you try to reflect your problems onto someone else.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Generally, I draw inspiration from a lot of music. I like to say that I don't draw my inspiration from specific artists, but specific songs like if there's something in a song that I like, I'll try and replicate it. But generally some of my favorite artists have been Dijon, Orion Sun, Frank Ocean. In terms of outside of music, I draw inspiration from being able to connect with people really in the same way. Twenty One Pilots when I was growing up were such a huge inspiration for me and it was so weird because every time they released a song I'd be like, how, how do they know about my life? How is it so relatable? That's something that really inspires, being able to make someone feel that way and make someone feel heard and also let people know that they aren't alone.
What's your creative process?
I'm most creative when up late, so that's like one to three am. Except now I'm back in school. So after school I try to make a lot of stuff. What I end up doing is I open logic and mess around with some chords and the keyboard. I don't really know what to always start with. It's usually a beat or melody first. It always changes, but I lay those down first and then I create a four bar loop and take all the ideas that I have and then arrange them. That's basically how I make my songs.
How are you finding balancing school and being an artiste?
I have this rule that when I come home, from 4:30pm to 7:00pm, I can spend time doing whatever I want and mainly that's music. And then from 7:00pm to whatever time I sleep I have to do my school work. I like to separate my weekends, Friday nights are always for music and then Saturday is for music as well. Sunday I do all my schoolwork. That's basically how I balance.
In general, what are you hoping that your music will achieve? When people listen to your music, what do you want them to feel?
I actually never thought of that in terms of what I want my music to achieve. I do want a global audience and to connect more people to my music. I mean, obviously, everybody answers how they want the awards which I do want as well but I think the most beautiful thing for me would be to be at a concert and see people sing the lyrics word for word and you know, to know that I'm connected to that many people.
In terms of what I want people to feel, I want people to feel what I was feeling when I was writing the song, whether that's through the instrumentation or the lyrics; if they could feel the happiness on the puppy love that the song is named after or in indigo if the they could feel the insecurity of the character or on angst if they could feel the anger all while still catching the beat and dancing and opening up to it, then I think that would be something that I really want my listeners to feel.
What would your dream collaboration be?
This is kind of in order of importance. I'd say first is Dijon, just to be on anything with him, even if it's just background vocals. And then I'd say second is Frank Ocean and third is Orion Sun. Lastly, Hope Tala.
What are your top five favourite projects currently?
How Do You Feel About Getting Married by Dijon
Endless by Frank Ocean
Bad Taste by Jeshi
Midnight Express by Manic MC
Valencia by Yeek
Lastly, what's next for you?
I have no idea actually.
I'm thinking of dropping singles for two years. And in the meantime, I'm working on an album I really want to try my hardest to make something that I’ll be extremely proud of in 30 years.
Keep up with capespring. here.
Stream diodrama here.
All photo’s courtesy of Thomas Seward (@tysevisual).
