A mesmeric fourth LP in a decade by the band from Tamanrasset, Algeria, whose name means ‘the ones I care about’, who mix traditional Tuareg music with guitar riffs, pop melodies and African rhythms, but this time, with title meaning ‘lightning’, also evolves slightly away from the desert blues rocky, bluesy influence of contemporaries Tinariwen. Long-time sound engineer Maxime Kosinetz here produces, having travelled to Tamanrasset with multi-instrumentalist Emile Papandreou (of the French duo UTO) who introduces electronic elements by sampling live instruments and reprocessing them in real time with a modular synthesizer. That said, there’s still the essential magic of the core quintet of Iyad Moussa Ben Abderrahmane, Abdelkader Ourzig, Tahar Khaldi, Hicham Bouhasse, and Haiballah Akhamouk. Opener Ahitmanin has that stylish West Africa Sahara/ Mississippi Delta guitar fusion, and Tellait has a fabulously catchy Tuareg groove, but Azaman Amoutay, for example, is a mourning song about the demise of society, bringing a different sound with gentle vocals, low-key clapping rhythms, and continuous synth drones. Derhan N'Oulhine has a beautiful balance of sound, a thrumming synth bass with delicate guitar riffs and vocals. Among other highlights, Tamiditin has delicate acoustic strings and beautiful, floating vocals, while Okcheur has a steady bass groove, clip-clopping percussion and a sprinkling of electronica. Overall a wonderfully engaging, evocative, subtle evocative fusion of sounds, culminating in the delicate, ambient, entrancing, slowly fading, long closing track Assagasswar. Out on Wedge / City Slang.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new songs and albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar X, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: