capespring. (Polo Onguru) is a young artist from Nairobi, Kenya, using music to navigate his way through an ever-changing world. The thought that he would be themed Capespring Releases Latest Single ‘Zaya’ was so convincing.
Combining the influences of Tyler, the Creator, Dijon, and Frank Ocean, and inspired by the cultural diversity of Kenya, he aims to bring different, long-lasting music to the table.
This Friday, capespring. is dropping his most recent single “Zaya” which marks a new, more explorative sound for the young artist. The single places capespring. even closer to the genre-less category, and features horns, piano, and a plethora of live instruments—many of which are played by his peers at Interlochen Center for the Arts.
“’zaya” is a song that talks about someone like you but at the same time being afraid of you. It is essentially a conversation between two characters with one assuring the other: “I only want the things that you do”, which is to say there is no need for fear.”
capespring describes “over the past few months both my life and my music have entirely changed. I’m in a place where authenticity, vulnerability, and being unapologetically myself in front of the mic are the most important aspects of my life. To me, there is so much beauty in openness, so much beauty in crying, screaming, or laughing in a song—so so much beauty in emotion. And while this may seem obvious to some, it really just clicked for me recently, at least in terms of my music.
I want to help create an artistic world where words and feelings matter so much more, where they’re so much more intentional. It’s scary to let people into your healing or even hurting, but for the sake of art, and self-fulfilment, I think it’s worth it. I’ve really worked so hard on everything I’m putting out this year and I hope that even just one person will get to see that.”
His last two singles “leg room” and “stay down” marked the beginning of a new chapter for capespring. as he moved from Nairobi to Michigan. The singles aligned with his previous work in sharing all-too-real emotions from relatable moments.
From early on, music played an imperative role in capespring.’s upbringing; whether it was his dad playing Paul Simon before bed, or beginning piano lessons at age four. This fueled his creativity and led him to start producing tracks after being gifted Logic by one of his school teachers. Fast forward a couple of years and capespring. has released a collection of singles and an EP worked with some top emerging African talent such as mau from nowhere, has been featured on tastemaker publications such as Tangaza Magazine, Harmattan Rain, and The Native Magazine, and released a single under Kitsuné Musique.
His EP diorama (stream HERE) dropped at the top of 2021 and contained four emotion-filled tracks (+ a voicemail interlude) following the story of a person looking for love in order to rid him of his problems. Through self-reflection and some seriously emotional tracks, he inevitably discovers that he first needs to work on himself.
Stay plugged into capespring as he prepares for a new year breaking out of moulds, and into new scenes across the globe.
