Lee Gamble‘s UIQ label will release the debut album of Nkisi, 7 Directions, out January 18. 

The Congolese-born, London-based producer and DJ co-founded NON Worldwide in 2015 alongside Chino Amobi and Angel Ho, as a collective of “African artists, and of the diaspora, who use sound as their primary media to articulate the visible and invisible structures that create binaries in society, and in turn, distribute power.” Aside from her participation in NON, she has released on Rush Hour sublabel MW and Warp’s Arcola.

We’re told that 7 Directions is rooted firmly in the African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo and in particular the writings of Kongo scholar Dr Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau. The label describes it as Nkisi’s “most singular record to date,” explicitly exploring the incredible polyrhythms of Congolese percussion music. 

“When we hear before we see, voice and sound waves interplay between consciousness and hallucinations. Allowing the rhythmic to experiment with conditions of perception, disrupting predetermined expectations…Through manipulating rhythm, we create movements of energy… this energy determines collective behaviour and allows for new ways of producing knowledge…when we hear before we see, we can think about predicting the future and the manipulation of imagery that happens. through visionary possession we are renewed from within, in a system of systems… the pattern of patterns in being, it reaches and remains forever incomplete” – Nkisi

Tracklisting

A1 / 1. I

A2 / 2. II

A3 / 3. III

A4 / 4. IV

B1 / 5. V

B2 / 6. VI

B3 / 7. VII

7 Directions is due out January 18, with “VII” streaming below.