SónarCCCB 2021 - Space Afrika

On the surface a soundtrack for late nights and rainy days, Space Afrika’s Honest Labour LP is nowhere near as bleak as that suggests. From layers of textured pads, synth burps and warped vocal samples, the Manchester duo of Josh Reidy and Joshua Inyang manage to coax images of startling beauty, with the effect of a ray of sunshine emerging unexpectedly from behind a cloud. Not content with fitting neatly into categorisations of ambient, or downtempo music, Space Afrika emerge from a revitalized Northern England electronic scene with one of the albums of the year, examining evergreen concepts of love and loss from a perspective all their own. Presented by Elevate Festival, in collaboration with We Are Europe.