Beaucoup De Piment!

The principal styles of this debut are spunky Afrobeat and tepid jazz fusion, with the emphasis, disappointingly, on the latter. The chief partnership of the ensemble is that between Finnish guitarist Janne Halonen and Beninese percussionist Noël Saïzonou. The opening ‘Agamafa Na Hèdé’ acts as a condensed summing-up of their wares: at just under four minutes, it has an economy that would have been beneficial elsewhere. It’s curious that, following this opener, the lead vocals of key tunesmith Saïzonou are then relegated to the final two tracks on the disc.

Some of the rhythmic structures supposedly have their roots in Benin, but the full-kit drumming of Juha Räsänen mostly makes a conventional jazz-fusion thunder. ‘Who’s to Blame’ sounds alarmingly ripped from Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, while ‘The Gong’ features some annoying vocal narration and rapping from Axl Smith. Halonen’s own part-sung, part- intoned ‘Chop’n’Chop’ continues this tendency towards novelty numbers. However, ‘The Homecoming’ begins the more rewarding end section of the album, blessed with enough space to move outside all of the previous bludgeoning. Then, there are those two highlights sitting right at the end: ‘Adande’ has terse horn barks punctuating Saïzonou’s vocal lines, while ‘Africa’ features just the twosome of Halonen and the Beninite, the latter also blowing some sensitive alto saxophone.