You know the story if you’ve followed the Foreign Exchange: North Carolina rapper Phonte Coleman met Netherlands producer Matthijs Nicolay Rook on the message boards of Okayplayer, a Web community founded by ?uestlove. They traded audio files and compiled an album—2004’s Connected—before they’d ever seen each other. The LP marked a creative shift for Phonte who, at the time, was known only as an MC with rap group Little Brother.
For Nicolay, Connected was a coming out of sorts; its success brought more attention to his atmospheric blend of soul and electronica. Years before Rhye gained attention for their airy Quiet Storm-inflected R&B, Nic created the same sorts of Eurocentric grooves. Here, his 2006 LP, tinkered with hip-hop soul and featured Wiz Khalifa long before he became "The Stoner Guy." By 2008’s Leave It All Behind, Phonte ditched rap to mostly sing full time; Nicolay’s melodies grew bigger and brighter, an evolution that continued on 2009’s City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya, which was inspired by his first visit to Tokyo.
In turn, City Lights Vol. 3: Soweto was recorded after the Foreign Exchange’s first trip to South Africa in 2014. Where Shibuya felt like a scenic stroll through Tokyo’s nightlife, Soweto is lush and vibrant, carried by a persistent thump that picks up steam as the album progresses. This isn't an album of singles; it’s a summery mix of breezy dance tunes, sequenced without pauses for a unified listening experience. You can pluck out certain numbers, but Soweto is meant to be played in the order it's presented. At times, Nicolay sings through a Vocoder, and narrator Nomusa Nzima walks us through the nuances of South Africa's Zulu dialect.
Though the LP follows Shibuya and City Lights Vol. 1.5 in Nic’s discography, it has the same radiant vibe as Love in Flying Colors, his group’s 2013 release. Phonte is somewhat of a co-star here; his tenor crops up sporadically amongst the producer’s tropical arrangements, joined occasionally by Carmen Rodgers and Tamisha Waden. Yet on the album’s two best songs—"The Brightest Star" and "The Secret"—the Foreign Exchange collaborators assume a more prominent role.
Soweto pivots between dark and light textures. Songs like "Aurora" and "The Chase" recall Shibuya’s pastoral mood, but the energy ramps up by album midpoint "The Brightest Star". Nicolay's renditions of South African dance rhythms are both faithful and distinctive, and you can hear his aesthetic in many of the album's small decisions. On "Sun Rings/Uprising", for instance, Nic uses light keys and synthesizers to initiate the piece. By its second half, he stacks the percussion and lifts the mood. Soweto is an understated record, not meant to be a power punch. It could soundtrack your next cookout, or your next morning run, and while it's modest, it keeps a good party going.
