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By Rita Okoye
There is something revealing about returning to the early work of a producer after hearing where his music eventually goes.
On Somewhere in the Stars, one of Yackson0031’s 2022 releases, the Nigerian producer and artist sounds less interested in making an immediate statement than in establishing an atmosphere. It is an early record, and occasionally sounds like one, but there are production instincts here that become easier to appreciate when placed beside the work that followed.
It is early work and at time comes off as such but what is present are production skills which grow on you when put in the context of what came after.
The first thing is patience.
Afrobeats production tends to live in the now with rhythm hitting you right away. Yackson0031 takes a more subtle approach. The record builds around its melodic elements which are given time to breath before the next idea is introduced. This gives the record a dreamy quality. That mood is befitting of a title which promises distance and imagination. Yackson0031 doesn’t push back against that with heavy handed arrangement.
The production instead feels almost suspended with the melodic choices playing as important a role as the percussion.
His drums provide movement without defining the record’s identity.
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That distinction is key. A producer can create an effective groove which leaves nothing behind once the rhythm leaves. Yackson0031 is more interested in the interaction between rhythm and melody. Even at this early stage there is a go at giving the production an emotional character as well as a functional beat.
It is not fully formed yet.
Some of the choices still play in the language of current Afrobeats and the record could use a stronger melodic hook. There are moments where the atmosphere is more memorable then any individual musical idea within it. But early works are useful because they show what an artist valued before experience polished the delivery.
Elsewhere in 2022 with releases like Dreams and Groove Yackson0031 had more chance to play with mood and rhythm. Together those records tell of a producer testing the boundaries of what he is into rather then immediately going with one formula. In Some Places in the Stars is perhaps the best example of that curiosity.
It does not rely on dense production. It is at home with space and its best moments come when Yackson0031 lets the arrangement breath instead of filling in every available frequency. That instinct would pay off later in his production for other artists. A producer who groks space is also one which knows when an instrument should step back for a vocalist.
Listening back it In Some Places in the Stars doesn’t so much present a definitive statement as an early study of Yackson0031’s production thought.
The technique would improve.
The arrangements would solidify.
But the base of what made him want to make a production which carries a feeling not just a rhythm was already present.
