Written By Tobi Oke
By the time you finish Lusanda’s By The Time I Wake Up, something has shifted. Not because the EP attempts to overwhelm you with scale, but because it understands the value of restraint. Across three tracks, the South African singer and trained ballerina turns inward, works through reflection and uncertainty, and eventually arrives at a place of release. The project is brief, but its emotional arc is carefully considered.
Lusanda’s background in ballet feels particularly relevant here. Ballet is built around precision, discipline and the ability to make demanding movements appear effortless. Those qualities are present throughout By The Time I Wake Up, a project produced entirely by Anoop D’Souza. Rather than relying on excessive production or unnecessary embellishment, Lusanda allows her greatest strength to remain at the centre of the music: her voice. Warm and controlled, it carries a remarkable amount of emotional weight without needing to force the listener into feeling anything.
“Progress” opens the EP with a sense of space. The production gives Lusanda enough room to move through themes of self-discovery and reflection, particularly the strange experience of looking back and realising that growth was happening even when it did not feel visible. The song is less about a dramatic breakthrough than the quiet recognition that comes afterwards. When she sings “suddenly I see,” the moment feels less like revelation and more like finally understanding what the journey has been doing all along.
The title track, “By The Time I Wake Up,” is where the project finds its emotional centre. A guitar enters within the first few seconds and remains a steady presence throughout, giving the song a grounded pulse while Lusanda’s vocals move around it with remarkable ease. Neither the production nor the vocal performance competes for attention. Instead, they create a balance where each element knows when to step forward and when to leave space.
That balance gives the song its emotional pull. The writing traces an internal movement towards clarity and hope, while the vocalising towards the end becomes one of the EP’s most memorable moments. It is the kind of performance that rewards a replay because its impact comes from feeling rather than spectacle. There is also something versatile about the song’s construction. It could sit comfortably in the intimacy of a quiet evening at a bar or expand naturally onto a festival stage without losing what makes it work.
“Lunchbox,” featuring fellow South African producer iam6teen, changes the temperature. After two songs centred on reflection, growth and healing, the EP finally exhales. The snare and toms give the track a different physicality, creating a sense of movement and release. If the first two tracks are concerned with the work of becoming, “Lunchbox” is about what happens when that internal work begins to show up in the outside world.
Its central idea is simple but effective: the freedom that comes from being completely yourself around another person. Lusanda asks whether she can be carefree in their presence, and the question gives the song its warmth. It becomes the most liberated moment on the project, not because the subject matter suddenly becomes more complicated, but because the music no longer needs to carry the weight of introspection.
That is ultimately what makes By The Time I Wake Up work. It does not attempt to stretch three songs into something larger than they are. Instead, each track has a clear purpose, and together they form a concise progression from reflection to recognition to release. The EP’s brevity becomes part of its strength.
Lusanda does not waste a single second. She arrives with a clear sense of who she is, a voice capable of carrying the project, and enough restraint to let the music breathe.
Lusanda was already awake. This EP just proves it.
Rating: 8/10
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