Tamikrest

This is the third album from the Tuareg trance merchants and probably their best yet. The band are developing and growing in stature and confidence and all they have learned is here in glorious widescreen sound.

They have a sense of purpose and a wonderful freedom of spirit that comes through in their music but this release seems to have everything turned up a notch and the result is almost like a brighter light on their music exposing details that make the whole image more vivid and dynamic.
All of the trademarks are here – the vocal rills and the heavy and purposeful beats but the band have the addition of Tinariwen’s Wonou Walet Sidati singing alongside Ousmane Ag Moussa and she adds a level of stridency and sharpness that works brilliantly.

Elsewhere the brooding, almost whispered, vocals that characterized ‘Adagh’ and ‘Toumastin’ are clearly in evidence and the lead guitar work from Ousmane has touches of Roy Buchanan’s clarity and echoing loneliness.
The title of the album means ‘Sisters’ and the band have dedicated the album to the strength and courage of the Tuareg women through the recent trouble on Mali and throughout the bands trek away from the refugee camps of Libya and there is a sinuous and almost feminine element to the rhythms and beats while the chants that have always been part of the Tamikrest sound stand prouder and more confident than ever.

As an unabashed fan of the band I came to this album expecting the music somehow to have been diluted by their experiences and the collaborations with the likes of Dirtmusic but they have moved the music on in a way that real defines them as a band in their own right.

Hypnotic, stirring and a joy to listen to, the band can do no wrong.