The delicious cynicism of Something Cilly

29 Jul 2022 - 09:13

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

The Nigerian music scene is a wasteland of joy and optimism. You have girls, alcohol, sex and more sex. But it's a poor country, so where is the angst? The search party is still out on that one. In the meantime, we’ll take the honesty of Cill’s EP Something Cilly.

Cill.

We’ll call it a love project because that is what it is – but it opens and closes with songs that are not quite immersed in the unvarnished happiness we are told that love is supposed to bring. The opening one is essentially a pleading for love; the latter is a bit of meditation on the loss of love after a deep yearning for it.

But both songs are not downers, wrapped as they both are in soothing production work and the lady’s delicious vocals. Thankfully, those vocals are on display throughout the impressive collection of songs that is Something Cilly.

The project’s other super noticeable feature is its strong songwriting. Across the project, there is almost no extraneous word vocalised. Cill has achieved a delicate blend of concision and subtle delight in a sonic landscape that should be embracing her talent. You get the sense that a Cill solo concert would be a treat.

And she might be aware. She goes it alone on the six tracker, save for a song featuring Loud, a choir that found some fame online after covering Ayra Starr’s ‘Bloody Samaritan’. It is an inspired feature, as it lends solidity to Cill’s readily perceptible choral stylings. It is apt that the song, titled ‘Father’, is a meditation on love and the greatness of God, because it is the clearest expression of Cill’s music’s connection to gospel. There must be listeners out there in a deeply religious country like Nigeria who would find lines like, “I’m older and wiser but I still be mugu when all of your wisdom hits home…” relatable and maybe even useful.

Nonetheless, there is a different shade of useful lyrics on ‘Goal’, a motivational track that encourages the kind of person susceptible to personal development speak that “you go surely reach your goal”. The last few words of the song belong to the singer’s mother, who speaks encouragingly to her daughter, invoking God as the Nigerian parent is wont to do. That addition makes the song longer than necessary in an age of shorter attention spans – but sentimentality is no crime on a first project as ably produced and sung as Something Cilly.

In a radio interview promoting the EP, Cill said she wanted to take her listeners through being an adult. Well, it is mission accomplished for those who recognise love as a or the major experience in adulthood. And whatever your romantic belief, there is something for you.

For sappy romantics, there’s ‘You First’. And for love-scarred, battle-hardened men and women everywhere, there is ‘Permit Me’ and the last few words of ‘Tatarata (Remix)’. If you prefer to forget all about that, just sway to ‘Obodo’. Whatever you choose, you’ll be fine because you are in the hands of a cynical but tender chanteuse.