Between 2020 and 2022, Backxwash struck the perfect balance in terms of announcing her artistry. Ashanti Mutinta put out brash records so full of personality and emotion that they were impossible to ignore, but ‘Only Dust Remains’ shows that there was still plenty of headroom for the rapper to grow into. Here she is an artist, and a person, who understands what they’re about in a manner we haven’t seen before.
‘Only Dust Remains’ is not as in-your-face as 2021’s ‘I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And Dresses’, nor is it as immediate as the preceding year’s ‘God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out Of It’, but it is just as powerful. It’s something to live and grow with; an album that needs to settle in the pit of your stomach to allow themes of hope and introspection to blossom through poetic prose.
Black Lazarus opens with the lines: “I been away from my place of balance / From the lakes that carried my mistakes and challenge / And it’s safe to say I had to vacate the palace / And I'm not sure where to place this malice.”
Immediately, Mutinta paints a clear picture of the internalised struggle that Backxwash’s music has been plagued by. The track itself may not be as confrontational as past works Nyama or Wail of the Banshee, but conversely it offers a far more inviting and open delivery that is easy to invest in.
Wake Up is Mutinta at her most vulnerable — “Maybe it’s the fact that I’m starting to realise that I don't love myself,” she stirringly admits — before channelling Zack De La Rocha for a driving call to “wake the fuck up”. The combination of 9th Gate and 9th Heaven is a dizzying escalation that culminates in a dazzling breakbeat that’s as open as it is compelling.
Elsewhere, Stairway To Heaven marries wailing guitars and droning synths with forceful affirmations to give the album its most uplifting moment. The title track closes the record with a powerful flourish, where minimalist conscious raps and dreamy vocoder sequences give way to powerful gospel vocals.
‘Only Dust Remains’ is a spectacular new chapter for Backxwash. The freedom with which she explores Black heritage genres including soul, blues and rap while meshing them into a cohesive whole is frequently astounding — this is a personal playlist-cum-therapy session that paints her life’s journey in popping colour while still inviting listeners into the deepest, darkest corners of her psyche. Intimate, intense and irresistible, Mutinta has set a high bar for the rest of 2025.
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