Lion City

"The follow-up to last year's superb "Troubles" comes from the same 2012 Bamako sessions, but offers an utterly different mood. "Troubles" was organic, musicians from the West and Africa coming together and creating a new language of rock that drew from both traditions. It was, as they say, a game-changer. So is this. It's a slower, more meditative disc where the studio itself is as much an instrument as anything wielded by the players ... This is an album of dark moods and strong textures, kicking off with the strong trance on "Stars Of Gao" - as hard as anything you will find in Gnawa - before setting out on an aural trip. There are touches of dub colouring the production, but that's only part of the story ... It's a trip to hold the listener enthralled, down winding roads and the open desert, the "Red Dust" of Bamako and close with the sadness of "September 12"".