As we’re getting excitedly close to the release of Asher Gamedze’s forthcoming album A Semblance: Of Return, the South African drummer, scholar, activist and composer has shared a third and final preview from the record. The new track, ‘Air’, follows the staggering and sublime lead single ‘Following Up’ and more recently the astounding and compelling ‘War’. ‘Air’ arrives ahead of the album’s release on February 27th through Northern Spy Records, and offers another glimpse into the collective vision Gamedze has been shaping with his ensemble, A Semblance.

Gamedze shares his thoughts on the track:

“Air (of involvedness): Pretentious presence in the folding over of reality’s dissonant perception.”

Absorbing and imbued with buoyancy, ‘Air’ can be streamed below.

At the tail end of 2025, Asher Gamedze announced the release of his forthcoming album A Semblance: Of Return, sharing then the staggering and sublime first single ‘Following Up’ as an introduction to the project’s collective vision and his ongoing “practices of assembly”. This week, the visionary and virtuosic drummer, composer and activist unveiled a second offering from the album with the astounding and compelling ‘War’. Of the track, Gamedze says:

“War (of maneuver): The national question’s irresolution and the misapplication of position’s analytic.”

Listen to ‘War’ below and grab the album when it drops on February 27th through Northern Spy Records.

Photo: Leila Khan

We’ve been following Asher Gamedze’s musical journey for a while now, and each new release has only deepened our huge admiration for his work. Both his 2020 debut album Dialectic Soul, and his 2022’s Turbulence and Pulse landed on our Album Picks of the Year. A visionary and virtuosic drummer, composer, and activist, Gamedze’s musical world is one of endless innovation and an unyielding commitment to freedom, both in sound and spirit. So news of a new album from him fills us with excitement. Gamedze is gearing up to release his latest LP, A Semblance: Of Return, set to drop on February 27th through Northern Spy Records. To bring the album to life, Gamedze has assembled a new band, called A Semblance, featuring a group of longtime collaborators, to explore what he describes as “practices of assembly”, musical explorations that centre the coming together of individuals to create something larger than the sum of its parts. The ensemble includes Ru Slayen (percussion), Nobuhle Ashanti (keys & synth), Zwide Ndwandwe (bass), and Keegan Steenkamp (trumpet), with Gamedze on drums. Rooted in Pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness, as the press release describes, the album draws from the political and sonic legacies of Cape Town’s underground scene while extending outward, creating sonic bridges that extend beyond geographic and political borders. If past albums were “statements of direction”, the forthcoming A Semblance: Of Return is “a gathering place”, where different ideas, sounds, and struggles meet.

Ahead of the album’s release, Gamedze has shared the staggering and sublime ‘Following Up’, which serves as the first taste from the musical magic Gamedze and his ensemble have in store for us. The track’s title, according to Gamedze, hints at “coterminous existence of multiple intersecting dead lines”, a statement that teases the thematic depth of the album, questioning the intersections of time, place, and collective struggle. Take a listen below.