"JuJu & The Flowerbug" by Sunni Colón is simply brilliant

Born to Nigerian parents in Los Angeles, Sunni Colón was actually raised all over the place, spending time in New York, London, France, and Africa. This geographical hodgepodge is something that makes total sense when analyzing his sound, like, what else is he going to sound like if not This smooth blend of Jazzy-electro-funky R&B?

My strongest impression of Sunni Colón's oddly-titled album "Jùjú & THE FLOWERBUG" was its tangible, multi-sensory freshness. It's a very invigorating album, though not so in an impetuous or frantic way. It's a lot like taking a deep, beautiful, and well-paced breath of clean mountain air for the first time in months. Everything about this album feels like a carefully planned and deliberate zen-like lecture on the reach and influence of the broader spectrum of Afrobeat and its international cousins, and here's why:

The whole album feels rather spiritual, and that is no coincidence when you look at the genres that it waltzes with. Jazz, Funk, R&B, Soul, Afrobeat.... These are all musical schools that always seem to have been imbued with a great sense of the spiritual. from the cosmology of Yoruba seeping into Fela Kuti's lyrics to the underlying and unspecified mysticism of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew", it's all there, if you know how to listen for it, codified into the entrancing rhythms and horns. Colón himself says: "Over the course of my life I learned to have a pluralistic approach to the arts, spirit, and mind." further ahead elucidating thus: " ...The rhythm of blues derives from what generates from the heart. Our blood ripples the rhythms of jazz, funk, samba, afrobeat, and soul. The inspiration of this project came from all the innumerable themes of our nebulous lives."

Normally, I like to do a song-by-song breakdown for our album reviews, and I'll definitely get into a couple of songs individually, but the "innumerable themes of our nebulous lives." that Sunni mention play a huge role in what comes out of listening to this whole album, and it's easier to understand when looking at the entire thing together than it is piece by piece.

Now, it's often the case that you're listening to something you enjoy, and it takes your thoughts memories, and emotions to certain places. It can be easy to visualize yourself in the most fitting place and situation that the sound inspires in your mind. Do you have any idea how strongly you need to feel about a certain piece of music that it doesn't just stimulate your visualization capabilities, but that it also stimulates your olfactory imagination? I'm talking music with aromas, baby. Maybe to you, the Funk elements will transport you into an orange-tinted room where the smell of leathery cologne, hairspray, and tobacco is the predominant aroma. To my tropical self, the scent I get from these songs is that of the clean Caribbean breeze and of freshly crushed mint leaves... this is what I mean with multi-sensory freshness, this is -to me- what ‘JuJu & The Flowerbug’ is.

There is also an undeniable romantic edge to the album, and with songs like "UNIVERSE 4 TWO", "RYTHM TO YA LOVE" and "Supernatural Woman" it's also blended with the mystical aspect, resulting in an ongoing theme of striding and blurring that fine line between the material and the metaphysical, saying a lot but also hiding even more between the lines, so I won't spoil the surprise by getting into the nitty-gritty of the lyrics or how Sunni plays with his groovy harmonies; it's all very special to me and the more you allow yourself to dive in blindly, the better it'll be, I think.

Another big standout for me is the half-titular song "JÚJÚ", no doubt named so after the West African Folk-Magic (you've heard the terms Bad Juju/Good Juju, yes?). this particular song is draped in a golden silk Neo-Disco robe, with all its delightful pre-psychedelic patterned guitar riffs and sensuous Basslines grooving in full glory, embracing yet one more genre in its arms, and showing us just how talented and versatile of a musician Colón really is.

Every song in this album is perfect in and of itself, pick any you want and that's a single right there, but I'd like to go back to my idea that this album all together in one sitting says things that its individual pieces do not, or that at least certain statements emerge out of the entirety of these genres and sounds compiled into a cohesive element.

We can all choose or feel how to interpret art, and to me "Jùjú & The Flowerbug" is like a web that connects all seemingly disparate moments in time through the common nexus of music and how it all affects us emotionally, carrying us through the daily existentialist drama of our lives. This is all more than a Motown galore, however, It's a call out to the history of the Afrodiaspora in the realm of music.

The traditional folkish elements that come from the African soil to enrich what came to be in the western world, and then return to Africa, only to go back once again, making a stop in New York and London before spreading throughout the rest of the world in a cycle of cross-fertilization to the point where you cannot know what came first anymore. Who influences what? It's difficult to make sense of it in that regard like real history often is, but it is there anyhow, staring you in the face, and it looks exactly like this impossibly beautiful collection of songs. So lovingly crafted, so enticingly mysterious.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music.