While discovering new music is always an exciting event for me, there is something really special about finding musicians in my area that make music that resonates with me. International listeners sometimes assume that South African music is just sung in one way, but while I’m a fan of Hot Water and Johnny Clegg and I have an appreciation for Ladysmith Black Mambazo, what really excites me is the smaller artists who create really unique and beautiful music. Dear Reader, Oddo Bam, Wandile Mbambeni and quickly growing Beatenberg are just a few of the names that make me proud to be South African. My latest discovery is the wonder that is pianist, songwriter and vocalist, Ruby Gill. Older is a thoughtful indie folk album, peppered with personal anecdotes and themed around growing up and growing out of things that were once part of you. It is varied in content, placing itself in the unique and delicate social context of post apartheid South Africa in a way that is devoid of cliché. The album also shows the singer to have a significant emotional range, slowing down for the gentle and reflective Autumn, cushioned in an intricate and evocative piano accompaniment and wrestling with the complex emotions of bitterness and resentment in the energising title track.
Artists that come to mind while listening to Gill include early offerings from Dear Reader and Florence and the Machine. Older shows the artist to have a big vocal range, executing high notes with equal poise and maturity as the deeper, richer sounds. But her technical excellence is accompanied by a sensitive approach that makes for a complex emotional journey. I look forward to having the privilege of seeing Ruby Gill live in my hometown, Cape Town, before she leaves for her Melbourne adventure shortly after. More on that later.
