{"id":118448,"date":"2023-01-30T12:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T10:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=118448"},"modified":"2023-01-30T13:00:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T11:00:09","slug":"frigid-armadillo-future-afro-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/frigid-armadillo-future-afro-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Frigid Armadillo and the future of Afro-house"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The innovative and inspired Afro-house pair known as Frigid Armadillo met while studying in Johannesburg in 2010. Coming together as the only two amongst their peers who showed interest in music production while bonding over a John Dahlb\u00e4ck track, Lebo Lechela and Siyabulela Buhlungu found kinship in their longing to meticulously create a work of sonic art. Commandeering common pop arrangements and overlaying them with painstakingly experimental Afro-house grooves they\u2019ve coined \u201cFrigidization,\u201d the two were equally awe-struck and invigorated by how far their sound would travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their debut EP, Adam\u2019s Calendar<\/em>, housed the breakout track, \u201cRoam in a Day,\u201d which received keen nods from LP Giobbi, Sam Divine and Black Coffee via his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, and went on to be included on the illustrious Defected Festival\u2019s official 2021 Afro House Mix. By the time their next offering in the Goliath\u2019s Footprint EP<\/em> was just a few weeks old, the project had landed the no.1 spot on the Itunes Dance chart in South Africa. Their most recent Humanity<\/em> EP wasn\u2019t far behind, landing the Apple Music no.1 spots in Botswana and Canada and no.2 in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting 2023 off with their latest double release in Penga<\/em>, we spoke with Lebo and Siya in the wake of the release about Afro-House\u2019s gentrification, \u201ckeeping things interesting\u201d and a new year of emotion-led music crafted entirely on their terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A stand out moment for you thus far has undoubtedly been \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d which was a game changer for anyone curious about the direction house sounds would go. What has the last 3 years been like for you since its release?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebo: <\/strong>It\u2019s been a wild ride. For every one step forward it feels like it\u2019s 2 steps back, and for every step back you\u2019re propelled forward even more. No two days are the same and it’s a lot of \u201churry-up-and-wait.\u201d It feels like everybody\u2019s waiting for your next move and sometimes doors open, but not all the way. We just want to make sure we\u2019re not an overnight fad and the trickiest part becomes not letting success get to your head. I\u2019m eternally grateful for the \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d moment; I don\u2019t think we\u2019d be where we are now if it wasn\u2019t for how this song organically grew. Siya says he saw it coming, but I call BS on that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siya<\/strong>: The reason I say that I felt it coming is based on how the song was made. In the song, you can’t really hear it but there\u2019s a loop from a Black Coffee remix that I chopped up and put in the song (find it here: \u201cIn Common\u201d – Alicia Keys, Black Coffee Remix)<\/a>. The funniest part is that he was the first big DJ to play it on a stream and from there we blew up exponentially. From that day that I put the loop in, I had a feeling that the song would be something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since then you\u2019ve focused on breadcrumbing EPs. What would you say you try to explore EP to EP, one release to the next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siya: <\/strong>To be honest Shiba, we don\u2019t have a formula. A lot of our music is mood-dependent; it really depends on what mood we go in with that day. Goliath\u2019s Footprint<\/em> was more of a continuation of that angelic, anthemic sound that the first EP gave you, but most of the music we\u2019ve made that hasn\u2019t come out yet is a feeling thing, an emotional thing. There\u2019s no plan, we just do what we feel like doing on the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lebo:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if this is a great thing to say, but it\u2019s also a competition thing. We also hear really great music and the challenge becomes, can we make something better, something that makes us proud of what we can do. Like Caiiro\u2019s last album,\u00a0 Pyramids<\/em> \u2013 it’s otherworldly. If we ever create an album, we\u2019d want to be as proud as Caiiro probably was around his work. A lot of it is feeling a bit imposter syndrome \u2013 we’ve always been underdogs and EP to EP we\u2019ve just had to find our groove and learn that people actually really enjoy our music. If you\u2019re proud of the song, you hope the world will be too. You either get no feedback or you get \u201cwe like it, but can you make it more Black Coffee?<\/em>\u201d Now we\u2019re in a place where people want more \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d but like Siya had said before \u2013 \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d is a moment, it\u2019s not a sound. If we\u2019re having a \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d day, you can get a \u201cRoam in a Day\u201d track.\u00a0 We\u2019re not machines. We don\u2019t just churn out sounds that are all alike. It\u2019s about pushing the envelope, not taking things personally and having fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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