Elsy Wameyo – Saint Sinner
Today, Nairobi-born, Adelaide-based singer, rapper and producer Elsy Wameyo has announced her debut album, Saint Sinner, due out July 26th.
Lead single “Umva” is a blistering and compelling testament to her strengths as an MC, writer and producer.
On the single she shares, “There’s a comfortability that comes with understanding one’s greatness. Respectfully, in this game I know I run laps around most so it’s easy to say and do whatever I want. I know exactly who I am and have nothing to prove. I carry myself with a lot of pride because Elsy Wameyo is that girl and they know that too. Umva is a statement. This is who I am, who I’ve always been and how I’ve always felt. You’re welcome.”
The announcement comes on the heels of a momentous 2023 for the rising artist, who supported Genesis Owusu across Australia, appeared at Falls Festival and Lost Paradise, and took home six awards at the South Australia Music Awards for Best Studio Engineer/Producer, Music Video, Song, Solo Artist & Release of the year for her debut EP Nilotic. She capped off the year with Triple J Unearthed’s Artist of the Year accolade.
The success came at a cost, with the grueling touring schedule resulting in exhaustion and disillusionment with her creative path, adopting a misanthropic worldview which in turn led her to crisis of faith. Wameyo made the decision to retreat to her ancestral home in Kenya, resting and reconnecting with her creative self. She built a team of close confidants and collaborators, including Polycarp Otieno, Wuod Omollo (who sings the chorus of “Piny Lara” in traditional Luo) and Ywaya Tajiri. The group locked away in Kenya’s Naivasha region, writing, sharing, and recording ideas. The result is a powerful exploration of personal identity, spirituality, and the struggle to exist in this modern world.
“Saint Sinner is the flesh versus the spirit,” shares Wameyo, “A confession of physical weakness in order to find strength in the spirit. Piny Lara was the first song we wrote narrating the tug and pull sensation. A chaos brought by a mind that’s stuck between the devil and the father who rests on either side of your shoulders. Your spirit knows what it wants, but your flesh always directs you to the wrong places.”
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