You may remember Barcelona-based trio Egosex from back in December, when we first featured them as part of our people to watch in a 2020 listicle, or from their quarantine contribution a couple of weeks ago. This time around, we’re excited to announce the drop of the band’s follow-up to last year’s debut EP, Spirit Disco. Reflecting back on what led to becoming Egosex, and dish some intel on the making of their craft, lead singer Wekaforé Jibril shares some formative anecdotes.
Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Jibril skated through multiple stages of musical expression, before arriving where he is now. The self-described “multi-disciplinary artist” explains he found his beginnings at the tender age of 15, under the moniker Little Picasso. An unsuccessful talent show attendee at first, he would go on to join a group of rappers, before departing in favour of different aesthetic destinations.
There are differing opinions, apparently, on where the name came from: “My ex claims she coined the term ‘Egosex’ for us, but I disagree,” Jibril explains. “I had a 2-man band in the Basque Country called Paradise Motel, and we released an EP titled Egosex—it’s still somewhere on the dark side of Soundcloud.” But it wasn’t until a few years later, when “reading about Freud’s psychoanalytic theory on personality” that the name stood out once more, and protruded as the only sensical choice for the band’s name.
“It’s not so easy to describe“, he admits when asked to pinpoint some of the group’s sonic characteristics. “We used to call it ‘Jungle Trance Blues’, someone from a festival once titled it ‘Psychedelic Afro-pop’, but I think soon we’ll only be able to describe it as Egosex,” he says—and it’s true, thus far, the official five track-discography encompasses a vast mix of influences, combining everything from tints of house-y world music with electric strings and howls, hereby distancing itself from precise categorisation by genre—a trait the band didn’t intend on forfeiting for ‘SERENDIPITY’.
What might be most appealing about the the triplets’ approach is the music’s indivisible connection to visuals, which Jibril allegorises as the two being “abstract siblings of the same mother, like a clock, the minute hand has to get as far away as he can from the hour hand as possible, only to then push it one step further. Full circle”.
Stream ‘SERENDIPITY’ here.
Photography NADINE KOUPAEI
Video SALVA FRENCH
