Our initial exploration of this album was slightly intimidating, with a metacritic score of 94 - obscenely high. We try and avoid such research before listening to albums, to reduce any subjectivity (laughable really), but in this situation it added a real level of excitement. Unfortunately, this excitement ended up being slightly ill-founded.
The depth of sound, for what is an acoustic 'Blues' album (to put it in a language I can grasp), is impressive, with a lush variety of instrumentation. Given the unfamiliarity of many of the sounds to my Western-saturated ears, it was both intriguing and simultaneously comfortable, with rhythms and melodies that were simple enough.
Toure's voice has a wonderful mellifluousity to it, as demonstrated on Erdi, Machengoidi and Penda Yoro. Beto shows off his guitar work, with a wonderfully Blues-y feel to the track. However, it is only really on the title track that they both come together for me.
Whilst I did not mind listening to the album, I found it hard to concentrate for the duration, and even after several listens couldn't easily distinguish the songs. This is no doubt in no small part due to my lack of musical education and awareness, and my reliance on distortion pedals in appreciating songs, but I had hoped for a bit more.
Chloe's album rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 4. Savane
Olly's album rating: 6
Olly's favourite track: 3. Beto
Next week is 496. Black Metal by Venom.
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