This EP by Gerald Milton offers up a string of sounds, effects, riffs, and melodies, that are completely unique to the artist. Opening track ‘Amaka’ is the perfect place to start to get a taste of what his music is like. The rhythm has a light hearted and slightly tribal sort of bounce to it, the minimalist sounds used alongside it are massively unusual, and unrecognisable a lot of the time – it’s difficult to pinpoint what some of these sounds are, adding to the artistic effect of the sound. The music is definitely of an acquired taste, but the originality of it is pretty appealing.
The artist’s voice is a huge part of what makes it compelling. The flow of the vocal is quite relentless, the rhythm is uncommon, intriguing even, sometimes seeming like a freestyle or a stream of consciousness. The rest of the EP appears to get a little more rap and hip-hop, in the classic sense of the genre, but for a real experience of the artist and his character, his thought process, his background, his accent, this opening track is great way to go.
There’s no melody, and the hook section is difficult to separate from the verses, which under most circumstances would be a complete no-no, but for the sake of this song and what it seems to represent – the creative freedom highlighted throughout it – the lack of a standard structure seems to work in it’s favour. The ‘Amaka’ line is noticeable the further into the song you get, and the whole thing does take on a sense of familiarity after a while. The artist’s voice has a pleasant tone to it, and though it refuses to stop performing throughout the track, you can sort of hear the happiness expressed in the lines, the cool and calm confidence is a real strong point.
By Rebecca Cullen
