KMRU: LOGUE (INJAZERO)

KMRU’s Opaquer on Dagoretti remains the stand-out release of 2020, to say nothing of our extended and isolating listening experience during the long first-wave of the pandemic. Joseph Kamaru’s collapsing of inside and outside, synthetic and found, representational sound alongside the musical, all felt like a strange form of relief, moments of silence inflected by the familiar and the new. We cannot recommend KMRU enough (there may be copies of Opaquer left here on our site!!).

To have another LP so soon feels like a gift. Though there have been cassettes and digital releases, we feel grateful for another proper long player.

From the one-sheet:

“Nairobi-based electronic musician/sound-artist Joseph Kamaru -- KMRU -- signs to Injazero for the release of his beautiful compendium album Logue, comprising works from his past years of self-releasing. KMRU is uniquely positioned between the rarely-married cultures of ambient and African musics, entwining his compositions with field recordings from his native Kenya and the surrounding countries of East Africa.

Found within Logue's pieces are radiant melodic antiphony commonplace in African music, and huge, spacious drones that reveal his love for ambient soundscapes, held effortlessly together by field recordings and analog synthesis. ‘Every track reflects an event, space or location,’ Joseph writes. ‘The pieces are developed from field recordings, improvisation and spontaneity.’

Formed of tracks written from 2017 to 2019, Logue represents an artist not only in command of his form but also willing to develop and evolve, ready to deconstruct and radically refocus his music to explore new contours of experimental and ambient sound-design. Some of the earliest compositions found on Logue -- 2017's ‘Jinja Encounters,’ represent Joseph's first trips outside his homeland and the experience of new sights and new climates, full of discovery and wonder. Consistent across the entire album is intensely personal and powerfully intuitive expression, crossing continental divides with a singular elegance. KMRU is a young, recently debuting musician.

He has self-released on Bandcamp for the past few years, and 2020 saw his first official, international releases, including the scintillating Peel [double] album for Editions Mego.”

* KMRU appears regularly at the celebrated Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda.