Four years after the release of his critically-acclaimed sophomore album “Subaru Boys: Final Heaven”, Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer Cruel Santino returns with another expansive body of work, this time transporting listeners to the immersive, ethereal Kingdom of The Bounce. Much like Santino’s sophomore album, “K.O.T.B: The Bomberman Chronicles” plays like a road trip through this distant land, transmuting the sublime scenery and architecture through dreamy instrumentals and soundbites loaded with intricately woven narratives. This latest addition to the Cruel Santino multiverse features an all-star lineup of producers and collaborators, bringing together members of both the alte old guard and the Nigerian underground for a full-scale sonic production that is almost cinematic in quality.
Much like the magnanimous nobles of the medieval times acted as patrons for promising talent, Santino has made it a point to platform the artists that have come after him, and in this way K.O.T.B stands as something of a legacy project, featuring the likes of Zaylevelten, Mavo and Indi, artists who gained their first traces of mainstream recognition via platforms he pioneered. Tochi Bedford, Odunsi The Engine (OTE), Haram, Anatole Muster, Santino himself and many others make up the formidable league of producers who create the record’s entrancing, multi-dimensional soundscape. It is at times surreal and orchestral, like the strings at the end of “Gypsy Gowns”, evoking images of knights at court, and at other points highly percussive and infectious, tapping into the timeless bounce that Santino has become renowned for. As the project unfolds, listeners are drawn into the various pockets of this multi-faceted universe—“Nutty Dutchy”, “Benin Bounce” and “Oz” feat. Jeriq are perhaps best situated in the more jaunty areas of town–the malls and bars and downtown streets, while “Rolen” feat. Helen Gao and the empyrean final track “Heaven Is In Pain” feat. Indi evoke images of more romantic, ethereal spaces–a palace garden or a castle on a hill.
The mastery here lies not just in Santino’s ability to create universes through sound, but in the intentionality with which he chooses the pillars of his world and positions his collaborators. He knows exactly which artists to feature on each track—“Siesta” feat. Mavo is a brilliant example of this, as is “Big Drop” feat. Zaylevelten. Artists like Octobersrich, who are not always legitimized in industry spaces due to their unconventional–and quite frankly zany–approach to music, are given a place in his court. Although he is the principal reason for its being, there is no desire on Santino’s part to take up the spotlight in his world, and this benevolence in turn expands his role within it instead of shrinking it. In the same vein as his previous work, “K.O.T.B: The Bomberman Chronicles” alchemizes the elemental tenets of high fantasy into a mesmerizing sonic experience, once again asserting Cruel Santino as one of the most skilled worldbuilders in Nigerian music.
