Author: Alex De Lacey
View album and artist detailsArtist/band: |
ÌFÉ |
Label: |
Mais Um |
Magazine Review Date: |
January/February/2022 |
ÌFÉ is the brainchild of Otura Mun, a producer and percussionist deeply invested in creative practice from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Initially from Indiana, he became bewitched by music from the Caribbean and its intersection with the spiritual realm. Mun is now a Yoruba babalawo (high priest), using his art to convey the effervescence of life, its vicissitudes and the inexorable encounter with death. Debut project IIII+IIII was a stunning exploration of synthesised voice and percussion, combining mysticism with contemporary urgency. Its follow up is similar in intent, but it pushes further with cascading voices interacting throughout, emboldened by the roster of guests: from Yoruban guitarist Saint Ezekiel, to NOLA newcomer Lex and the London Lucumi Choir.
Its standout moments include the joyous ‘Tu Sabes K Si’ and the various dedications to a orishas. A re-rendering of a traditional prayer for the god of thunder Shangó begins tentatively, before opening out into an expansive mix of voice, percussion and electronics, proclaiming the power and tumult of its namesake. Lead single ‘Fake Blood’ is similarly striking. It reacts to the horrors that unfurled in the Las Vegas 2017 mass shooting, emphasising (terrestrial) life’s fleeting ephemerality; a prevailing theme across the record.
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