By Cara Search, Special to The Sybaritic Singer<\/em><\/p>\n

On September 7, 2018, Underground System<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s first full-length album, <\/span>What Are You<\/strong><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>hit the ground dancing with its own after party in tow. Underground System, the self-described \u201cfemale-fronted group of neo-Afrobeat deconstructionists\u201d named after Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti\u2019s final 1992 album, released a 40 minute collection of songs that is as Brooklyn as it is Fela. This album ambitiously balances the effusive high-energy dance tunes for which the band is known with precise, cooled down EDM-influenced tracks.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Are You,<\/span><\/i> the title track positioned at the album\u2019s halfway point, functions as the musical and theoretical fulcrum for this collection of songs. In an interview on PRI\u2019s The World, frontwoman Domenica Fossati<\/strong> describes the text as a personal reaction to that crass and frequently asked question (\u201cWhat <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> you?\u201d) \u00a0about her African and Italian heritage. \u201cYou ask me \u2018bout my shade then tell me your perception\/So you think you know me better \u2018cause you study race and gender\u201d…\u201dI know who I am but you\u2019re the one who disagrees.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Like Fossati herself (proficient in English, Spanish, Italian, Yoruba, Ewe, voice, flute, dance, new music, Afrobeat, indie rock, and who can guess what else), Underground System refuses to contain its cultural and stylistic virtuosity for the intellectual digest of its listeners. This album invites inquiry and discovery; prying open (and leaving wide open) previously unexplored intersections of style, sound, and culture <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> the party with Underground System.<\/span><\/p>\n

The millennial Brooklynite\u2019s nostalgic sense of humor also makes sonic appearances throughout. The band calls on 80s new wave sounds to highlight absurdities and instability in selected tracks. <\/span>Just a Place<\/span><\/i> takes a tempo a beat below feverish and layers processed vocals in a refreshingly unromantic offering to the litany of New York hustle-and-bustle songs. Nostalgic listeners are rewarded by theremin wobbles and <\/span>did-they-really-do-that<\/span><\/i> big fat synth drum rolls: the absurd sci-fi of the quotidian. <\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, the tight drumbeat (plus more theremin?) of <\/span>Rent Party <\/span><\/i>could just as easily announce Joe Jackson or Hall & Oates. Among the differentiators is Fossati\u2019s self-referential silliness. Playing the urgency of a rent party for laughs, she makes her own sound effects (\u201cBrrrrng, brrrrrng! Hello?\u201d) and transitions from Spanish to English at the end of the second verse with, \u201cSomething something something, English English English English English\u201d. And is that a kazoo solo before the breakdown?<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides pulling potentially disparate tracks together into one seamless ebb and flow (and ebb again), the track <\/span>What Are You<\/span><\/i> also marks the moment where the album starts to reward the digital listener with gorgeously thoughtful, organically paced dance club sounds. Underground System was founded by guitarist and New York-based DJ Peter Matson<\/strong>. He and Fossati discussed with Afropop Worldwide the intersection of New York dance club music and Afrobeat in their work; a project that Matson describes in the interview as \u201c[Underground System\u2019s] role,\u201d and something that \u201chasn\u2019t been done before by our generation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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