The nine-track EP draws on the producer’s Zambian heritage, Scottish upbringing and current London base, with guest turns from Nsanshi, Iñutu, Tony Ann, Aluna and DYO. A headline UK and European tour follows in November.
KILIMANJARO’s new EP, The Ascension (Inkawami), is out via Capitol Records, and its nine tracks are organised around displacement rather than around a single sound. The producer and DJ was raised in Scotland by Zambian parents and now works from London, and that geography shows in a record that moves between vocal-led songwriting and club-facing production without settling in either.
The opening ‘Intro’ hands the mic to family: his brother Nsanshi and sister Iñutu. ‘Back To Earth’ follows with KILIMANJARO’s own voice up front. Tony Ann appears on ‘The Haunting’, Aluna on ‘Back Home’, and DYO on ‘Not Like You’, the track that frames the EP and traces the disorientation of a breakup.
“‘Not Like You’ came together through real collaboration,” KILIMANJARO says. “After getting the initial demo from DYO, I worked on bringing that KILIMANJARO energy and bounce into the chorus and post-chorus, then got back in the room with her to tweak the verses until we were all happy.”
The EP’s stated subject is the tension between losing and finding yourself, and the effort of holding on to some equilibrium while things around you don’t cooperate. The tour that follows puts that idea in a different setting. KILIMANJARO plays Berlin on November 11, then Glasgow and Manchester, closing at London’s Islington Assembly Hall on November 26 with a live format he has not used before.
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