It’s a fine rhyming line between rap and performance poetry. Isaac Ssebandeke, a 20-year-old Londoner of Ugandan origin, classifies himself as a performance poet rather than a rapper. Whether verbalising acappella or over a beat, his Poetic Harmonies EP (free to download, link below…) presents a spoken wordsmith of much promise.

Opening with ‘You’re Hurting My Baby’, the track tells a poignant narrative over excellently looped vocal harmonies. A few songs later, comes our favourite moment, ‘Ever Wonder’. Lasting a double Nelson duration, Issac rhythmically taps into his East African roots for the self-produced beat.

Throughout the EP Issac calmly articulates well-worded poetic tales with his ear-pleasing vocal tone. The first six tracks can be viewed as an accomplished whole, the final song, ‘Slowin Down Ain’t An Option’, is best viewed separately, since it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the release (it’s rightly referred to as a bonus track).

An exciting release by a highly promising talent, Isaac Ssebandeke’s Poetic Harmonies EP can be freely download at: isaacssebandeke.bandcamp.com.

N.B. I wonder if Issac’s as yet appeared under Charlie Dark & Patrick Neate’s radars…