HOTLINE SERVICE EP by KÉPA

The Guitar. For Képa, it was more than an instrument — it was a companion. Even in moments of isolation, when chronic pain crept in, solitude never took hold. Intensive practice became his sanctuary, where minutes dissolved into hours, and hours slipped into days.

Through a kind of self-hypnosis, time lost its grip. As a true autodidact, Képa relished the freedom to stray from convention — to write in the margins, to embrace the unexpected. Sometimes, all it took was an unfamiliar chord to reroute the entire course of a song and open up a new direction. His journey begins in the blues, drifts through the freer forms of African music, and eventually lands on something wholly his own.
On his previous three albums, his voice was a central thread. But now, the mic is unplugged. The Hotline Service is still open — but reaching Képa himself might take a day or two. Or five tracks. The exact length of this new, purely instrumental EP, where each melody rolls out like a slide in a musical travelogue. One song, one place: gazing at the sea, stretched out on a deckchair, lost in the desert, even recording in South Africa. He sought out the most idyllic and open spaces to record live, crafting an atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to electronic density and overproduction.

A single guitar. A standalone amp. That’s it. Minimalism not as an aesthetic choice, but as a way of life. Mistakes aren’t edited out — they’re nurtured. Because that’s where the music breathes, where its imperfection gives it life.
And then there’s the light — that final golden hour glow as the sun dips behind the horizon. The sea in the background, waves in gentle conversation with the amp’s hum. Maybe it’s the breeze. Maybe it's reverb. Maybe it's both. But it feels like something sacred.

A Hawaiian-colored evening. A warmth that doesn’t burn but embraces. A soundscape that asks nothing of you — except to be still and listen.