Etima Lokondo is pacing the room of a studio apartment overlooking Sydney’s Darling Harbour, as the sun dips below the horizon on a Saturday afternoon. His laptop, splayed open on a couch an arm’s length away, displays an assortment of looped melodies and basslines that play in the background as we speak. Occasionally, he pauses, often in the middle of a sentence — he appears captivated by a sound that’s struck his ear. “This drum kick”, he tells me, “It’s common in the Congo. Lingala dance music is known for it”, referring to a popular Congolese modern dance genre. The track we’re listening to is a soon-to-be-released single from his upcoming EP,