Us’Hlangu Semfene – Imenemene

The small observation I keep coming back to is how the title is built. It is one word, and the me and ne syllables bounce back and forth like a pattern a drummer would tap on a table. Even before you know what the word is pointing at, it already feels like it wants to be repeated. Some titles are made to be read, and some are made to be said, and this one is clearly in the second group.

That makes it easy to talk about with friends, even for people who do not speak the language. You can hear a title like this in a taxi, in a salon or at a family gathering and it will stick in your head by the end of the day. A title that is pleasant in the mouth already has a head start with listeners.

On an album that opens with something as tender as the title track about a rib, a single compact word gives the tracklist a different texture. It tells you the project is not going to speak in only one voice or one mood.

Records like this reward patience. You come to them curious about the word, and by the second or third play it has stopped being a puzzle and started being something you hum.

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