Between 2013 and 2016 Cape Town could throw you dead with indie bands, but there was always one that stood head and shoulders above, as far as my reverb-saturated heart was concerned.
Sakawa Boys (who take their name from the infamous Ghanaian email scammers, look it up, it’s bizarre) were that band for me. A deliciously melancholic blend of post-punk, shoegaze and indie-pop, their debut EP V was filled with piercing guitar solos drenched in angst and layered over Strokes-like distortion, and their debut album, 2014 Anxiety, reinforced their alternative prowess with a live show that could back it all up.
So when John Seth (vocals and guitar), Peter Scott (drums), Skye MacInnes (guitar) and Keenan Oakes (bass) decided to take time out, their absence was felt. Hard. It’s no surprise then that their first new music in eight years, single “Out Of The Dark”, has been welcomed with open arms and ears.
“In many ways for us the band never quite ended – just life and other things got in the way,” John Seth tells me. “Some of these songs [on the upcoming album] have been with us a really long time whilst others were newer collaborative efforts across continents. Again, we felt it was music worthy of being released, which we hope means something to the people listening.”
Written to describe that period of wakefulness immediately after a vivid dream where you’re not quite sure what’s real and what isn’t, John penned “Out of the Dark” in an attempt to free himself from the self-imposed mental confines that lockdown imposed upon him. The self-doubt. The over-analysation. The penchant for remembering only weird, embarrassing or awful scenes. You know what I’m talking about.
On top of new music in the pipeline, there’s also the promise of live shows to come. “I’m just very amped to one day be playing this live,” Skye enthuses. “Everything we write is oriented around what it would feel like to play on stage. Whenever I listen to our music, that is maybe the first thought. Imagining how it would feel to play and how a crowd would respond to hearing it.” Colour me excited.
If you listen to one song today, let this be it.
