Trevour Amunga’s fruity hip-hop returns with Akira’s Blues, his latest soulful, colorful, and silky 3-track EP. A gorgeous display of Amunga’s artistic range and interesting harmonic choices in a short, easy-to-digest affair.
Musician and producer Trevour Amunga has been making music for the better part of a decade, operating since 2015 out of Los Angeles. Amunga’s style of loose, soul beats and buttery synth sounds creates interesting backgrounds for his tight, west coast inspired rap, inspired by rappers such as Kendrick Lamar and OutKast. Interestingly, Amunga mentions Sade among his influences, and indeed, Sade’s soulful and silken smooth, light jazz vibes can easily be spotted in Akira Blues’s 3 songs.
The EP starts with the abrupt sensory delight of ‘Candy Paint’. Introducing to new listeners Amunga’s call-and-response style of rapping, his loaded lyrics about life challenges and his own frustrations with a lot of them, and his immediately catchy atmosphere-building skills. Utilizing stellar synths that swirl and ooze, delivering the song’s few melancholic chords in some surreal jazz voicings, ‘Candy Paint’ is a caramel-smooth showstopper with some stirring lyrics. Amunga follows with ‘My Cousin House’, and the soul jazz goes to a more folkish place. With the short track’s cyclic guitar rhythm line and flute part, a foresty atmosphere is immediately built, revolving around Amunga’s words about his cousin’s house and its evolution throughout his life, from a fun hangout during childhood to a safe, temporary escape from life’s pressures now that he’s older. A short piece that certainly packs a punch.
Amunga leaves the most aggressive piece to the last, ‘Brixton 3d’, and lets go of the lightness of the previous 2 tracks in favor of distorted vocal whelps that drip with charisma and ultra-compressed beats that stomp along mercilessly. A 3-song punch that showcases immense range, confidence, and boldness in allowing the vulnerability to come through.
Akira’s Blues is a short and sweet listen that undeniably ends too soon. Packed with neat ideas, and literally with zero added frills, Trevour Amunga’s music is lush and creative, and his rap is incredibly engaging.