Dammy Isaac debuts brilliantly on 'Afro Tales'

Nigerian music is loaded with incredible vocalists who operate in the Alternative, Soul and Folk spaces. They possess the vocal range of songbirds and the pop-fusion capabilities of mainstream acts.

Some of them are Chike, DoTTi, Brymo and more. While he’s not as big as they are, Dammy Isaac is as unique and dexterous as they are.

He might not have a similarly powerful voice as Awe Et Vare, but his music carries more mainstream appeal, while he retains the searing penmanship and storytelling, without the philosophical extremes or excessive symbolism. He excels in simplicity.

Although it was shared with us two years after release, Afro Tales tells personal stories - as the title suggests, stories from personal perspectives, and third-person perspectives. He delivers primarily in Pidgin English, Yoruba and English. They are African stories, as well.

But above all, Afro Tales represents the hunger for success, powered by swashbuckling talent. Dammy Isaac aims to showcase said talent to the world aboard carefully selected productions that seem very reminiscent of Bon Iver, Beck, Alexi Murdoch or Jose Gonzalez.

While his lyrics don’t suggest it, he wants the world to hear him, and he loves to hear people celebrate the impact of his music on them.

Not least due to what ‘Wishes,’ the final track on the album represents. It’s a cacophony of voices, enhanced by the magical hands of cellist Tayhmie black, from different parts of Nigeria, talking about how Dammy Isaac’s music has touched them. You can imagine what it does for a niche artist. ‘Wishes’ is the most beautiful song on this project, and it’s one of the best songs this writer has heard in 2021.

It’s like a love letter from a creative to his fans across the world, wishing and hoping his art form makes them “happier.” What could be more beautiful than that?

‘Chameleon’ is a story of heartbreak and broken promises from a girl to a guy, after she meets a new Lagos man, who presumably gives her a ‘better life’ than the one the singer offers.

But there’s a deeper theme, the culture of debauchery in Lagos, where people have no respect for the sanctity of a relationship, not the ones in the relationship, or the ones desiring those in the relationship.

The song also documents the oft-highlighted theme of infidelity amongst young Lagosians. Dammy Isaac laments on the song, “Whenever you leave, you take a piece of me with you...”

While Isaac portrayed the relationship as monogamous before that line, that line suggests that it might have been on and off because people in stable, monogamous relationships don’t leave “whenever.”

The detail and progression of opening guitars on ‘Oreke’ feels very reminiscent of Avril Lavigne’s ‘I’m With You,’ and the theme follows through. But the song’s percussion is inherently rooted in African Folk.

‘Oreke’ is a serenade of a beautiful, presumably black woman. And he tells her, “take all my money go...” The second layer theme is one of patriarchal responsibility.

He wants to love her, take care of her, because he’s “so in love” with her. Which underlines Isaac’s Yoruba roots.

‘Fly’ is a little vain, and it opens with a flexing of vocal dexterity aboard R&B, even though the mix isn’t as first class. On it, Isaac celebrates - presumably - himself, as a “young, wild and free” man, in Lagos, living well and aims to be ‘Fly.’

Ratings: /10 0-1.9: Flop

• 2.0-3.9: Near fall

• 4.0-5.9: Average

• 6.0-7.9: Victory

• 8.0-10: Champion

Pulse Rating: /10

Tracklist: 1.6/2

Lyricism, penmanship and Delivery: 1.5/2 Production: 2/2

Enjoyability and Satisfaction: 1.7/2 Execution: 1.6/2

Total:

8.4: Champion