Meet WANO – a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Joburg who brings an infectious kick of indie-soul energy to his new single “Come By”.
Taking influence from Steve Lacy – WANO’s greatest role model in music – as well as The Internet, Tom Misch, Omar Apollo, Daniel Caesar and the South African jazz masters his father would often play around the house, WANO’s songwriting is an exercise in versatility.
With tinges of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and a sexy electric guitar, “Come By” incorporates all these genres with interesting exuberance. On the production side of things, it’s not the most slick merging of styles, and sometimes WANO’s vocal delivery feels a bit awkward, but it’s delivered with such playful charm that it’s easy to overlook these small details.
“There was this guy I knew who used to play drums at church,” WANO tells me. “From the moment I heard him play, I must’ve been three or four-years-old, I aspired to be like him. I wanted to do what he could do with the drums… carry a song, but more importantly, move people the way he did with groove.”
“Three words you want readers to think when they hear your music?” I ask him. “Captivating. Dynamic. Soulful,” he replies.
The funniest (and certainly most captivating) thing about “Come By” is that it’s actually a mating call of sorts, as WANO puts it. “Well that’s the phrase one of my friends used, which I found funny,” he says.
“I wrote the song about someone I didn’t know,” WANO continues. “I just hadn’t met her yet. And throughout the chorus I’m essentially asking her to come over and well, you know…”
Perhaps imagination is WANO’s greatest quality as a songwriter, and the subtle audacity of his lyrics. It’s like he’s flirting with his listeners, injecting his songs with the kind of youthful fascination we all know too well.
