Kenyan musical standouts Ukweli and Xenia Manasseh join forces in recent EP Maybe

Collaborative projects often work because the artists exist in a similar musical space. Think Watch the Throne, Without Warning, almost anything DJ Khaled has produced and more recently (and closer to home), the collaborative offering from Kenyan rappers Blocka Beats and Mvroe RnB: Roe n Blocka. But every once in a while, you get artists with fairly different musical sensibilities mesh together to create a sonic synergy that just works.

‘Maybe’ cover art

Maybe, the collaborative EP by Ukweli and Xenia Manasseh, is a less than 20-minute EP made up of 5 songs. Maybe is not their first musical partnership; they’ve previously worked together on songs Potion with Hiribae, and Waiting. But it is the first extensive piece of group work from the two artists, and it works precisely because they are able to meet each other halfway without either artist’s sensibilities taking precedence over the other’s. Singer/songwriter Xenia Manasseh finds her musical home in RnB, while Ukweli has produced across multiple genres, glimpses of which you find in this EP.

The opener, Étoile, is an easter egg. By the time we get to the closing Circadian Riddim, we understand that the lone star she describes in the opener, the one whom love has pushed towards isolation so she may return to herself, has come full circle. Xenia’s writing (as good RnB writing should be) is so specific in its depiction of the emotions and turbulence that come with romance that it ends up embodying a biographic quality. You’ll likely either find yourself reminiscing back to a time you went through it, or wonder how much of this is actually based on her own experiences. More interestingly is that she achieves this engagement without needing to strive for an instagramable lyric. There are certainly snapshot moments in the writing but it's ultimately loyal to its storytelling goals way more than it is concerned with any kind of shock value.  

The opening track is also the first of many times we hear live instruments infused into the track. There are violins and a little later there is a gorgeous clarinet solo. The live instruments are infused sensibly but not predictably, which adds an edge into an otherwise polished production. 

Ukweli & Xenia Manasseh

In the project’s namesake and single, Maybe, Xenia is most on the nose in her exploration of uncertainty. The writing in this project is a layered showcase of the protest for certainty in love, and the faith it takes not to know and let desire lead anyway. Maybe leans on the latter; “I’m not ready/ I’m unsteady but/ if you’re ready, then I’m ready/ if you let me be unsteady.”

If Maybe was a bargaining, Love Me or Leave Me is the turning point right before depression in the cycle of acceptance. In this track Xenia’s vocals are delicate, ethereal. They are accompanied by an understated drum pattern, a combination that makes for the kind of song you want to sway your hips to inebriated under the skylight. That random night out in the middle of heartbreak before the hurt sets in? Love Me or Leave Me is the soundtrack to that night. 

Masterful background vocals show up throughout the project but they are most impressive in the two final tracks of the project, Lost and Circadian Riddim. There are certain choices that artists make that are revealing of the fact that they are students of their craft, and the vocal layering that is now a staple in Xenia’s work is straight from the foundations of RnB.

Circadian Riddim, aptly named to finish off the cycle Xenia sings about, is the sly piece de resistance. It incorporates all the best things about each artist; a knack for metaphor in Xenia’s writing, with perfectly arranged background vocals that embellish in the best way, a jazz-esque free form feel to the beat followed by a solid, reliable drum pattern in Ukweli’s production.

Each song let's Ukweli’s artistry have its moment. Whether it’s the live instruments incorporated within the beat or left to stand out (the saxophone solo in Étoile and electric guitar solo in Circadian Riddim are my favourite scene stealers), or the way each track slowly fades out without any singing so we have the production front and centre. The varied use of sounds (owing to the fact that he is not a uni-genre producer) also seem to push Xenia into varied melodies herself. For instance, in Lost we hear glimpses of sing-rapping, which is novel in the music she’s dropped so far. 

Ukweli and Xenia Manasseh are set to drop solo projects of their own in the near future. For both artists the stage is as set as it can be, their singles, features and now EP have all been more than a primer for albums. Given their offerings so far, it’ll be interesting to see where the points of growth are, and what remains as a consistent feature of their work. And most importantly, if they can both sustain the morsels of brilliance when it comes to a full-length body of work.