Eswatini artist, producer and creative Def Wood$, Meals Without Dessert is a project about where he is now, instead of a polished account of where he hopes to be.
The title sets the tone for the work. There is something deliberately straightforward about it, and that same approach runs through the music and the way Def Wood$ has chosen to put the project together.
Meals Without Dessert comes from the experience of an independent artist building a career while also having to figure out the business, visuals and creative direction that come with releasing music.
The project touches on ambition, relationships, pressure, self-belief, uncertainty and the everyday realities that come with trying to make something of your own.
It is a collection of experiences from an artist who is still developing his voice and finding his place within Eswatini’s growing creative scene.
One of the defining parts of the project is that Def Wood$ produced every song himself. That decision gives him a level of control over the sound and direction of the album, while also reflecting how he has approached much of his creative work outside music.
He has increasingly worked across different disciplines, including photography, video, editing and visual storytelling, allowing him to have a hand in how his work is presented from the beginning of the process to its release.
For an independent artist, that can mean doing considerably more than making music. The artist becomes the producer, creative director, editor, photographer and sometimes the person responsible for finding ways to get the work in front of an audience.
Def Wood$ has embraced that side of the process, and Meals Without Dessert carries traces of that approach.
The album’s first single, 'Empty Plates', introduces one of the ideas that sits within the project: hunger.
In the song, that hunger can be understood as the desire to achieve something, the need to keep going and the feeling of having more to prove.
It is also connected to the less visible side of creative work, where progress can take place for a long time before there is any obvious reward.
That experience is particularly relevant to independent artists working in smaller creative markets.
Eswatini has a growing community of musicians, filmmakers, photographers, designers and other creatives, but the infrastructure around independent work is still developing.
Artists often have to find their own solutions when it comes to production, promotion, visuals and distribution.
Def Wood$ has built his creative practice around that reality. Instead of keeping music separate from the other things he knows how to do, he has allowed those skills to work together.
Photography can become part of a release. Video can extend the story of a song. Editing can shape how an audience encounters the work. Production allows him to control the sound itself.
That approach has also allowed Meals Without Dessert to feel like a project with a consistent creative direction.
Def Wood$ is not only responsible for the songs but has been involved in building the world around them.
It is an approach that requires time and patience, particularly when one person is responsible for several parts of the process.
The songs themselves move through different subjects. There are moments of introspection, records concerned with pressure and ambition, and others that touch on relationships and personal experiences.
The project does not stay in one emotional space, which gives it room to reflect the different things that occupy an artist’s mind while trying to build a career.
For Def Wood$, the album also represents a period of becoming more deliberate about his creative identity.
Producing the entire project means he has been able to make decisions about the music without having to separate his ideas from another producer’s interpretation.
That does not necessarily make the process easier, but it gives him the freedom to shape the project according to his own instincts.
There is also a practical side to that independence. Creating music in Eswatini can require artists to be resourceful.
Access to equipment, studios, funding, distribution networks and larger audiences is not always straightforward. Independent artists therefore often have to learn how to make things happen with what they have available.
For Def Wood$, those limitations have become part of his working method. His ability to move between music and visual work means that he can take greater responsibility for his own releases.
It also gives him the opportunity to develop a recognisable creative language across different forms of work.
Meals Without Dessert arrives within that context. It is not a record from an artist claiming to have reached the end of his journey.
It comes from someone still working out what the next stage looks like and using the project to document that process.
The title also works because it leaves room for the work to speak without adding too much around it. Meals Without Dessert suggests a preference for what is necessary and what matters to the artist at this point.
The music is the centre of the project, while the visuals and other creative elements help shape the way it is received.
There is a growing number of Eswatini creatives choosing to take greater control over their work, particularly as digital platforms make it possible to create, publish and build audiences without waiting for traditional industry structures to open their doors.
That independence comes with its own pressures, but it also gives artists the opportunity to define their careers more directly.
Def Wood$ is working within that space. Meals Without Dessert reflects an artist who is producing his own music, shaping his own visuals and learning through the process of doing the work himself.
The album is a snapshot of that stage of his career. There are still questions ahead, more music to make and more ground to cover, but for now, Def Wood$ is putting his work on the table and allowing the audience to decide what they find there.
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