Tomorrow, October 23, North London producer and artist Wauve, aka Robeal Yohannes, will release his debut EP Shade. Although he describes himself as a producer first and a singer a distant second, if the EP's new single "Pamela", which features Afrobeats stars ZieZie and Stonebwoy is anything to go by, we can't help but feel like he's being a bit hard on himself.
Having found a deeper connection to his Eritrean roots as he's grown up, Wauve's music is leaning more and more into that East African influence, taking pentatonic scales and homegrown rhythms and blending them into the traditionally West African Afrobeats sound. Add to that a touch of the R&B and trap that first inspired him to make music and the result is light and breezy sound that takes Afrobeats into new territories that should probably be explored a bit more.
Hit play at the top to see Wauve, ZieZie and Stonebwoy cut loose in the barbers while they try to catch the attention of the titular heroine.
