Go Slow to Lagos

As the album's title suggests, there's a marked Nigerian Afrobeat feel to this Benin crew's latest, as well as a curious touch of the New Orleans jazz parade that is probably inevitable if you’re a brass band. The opening song, called simply ‘Yoruba’, has Femi Kuti contributing vocals and saxophone with Lekan Babalola on percussion, making a bold statement from the start. The bass, drumming and sousaphone gives the mix a massive low-end presence, lending immense drive to the celebratory proceedings. The rest of the spirited horns include bugle, trumpet, saxophones and trombone, the last being played by lead singer Whendo Martial Ahouandjinou.

Much of the album sounds like the transplanted manifestations of Yoruba culture heard in the Caribbean – in Cuba or Haiti for example. The best example of this is ‘Ashé’, which features just voices and percussion, making an arresting contrast mid-way through the album. As if all of this wasn’t a heady enough brew, the French pianist Jean-Philippe Rykiel (mostly known for his work with Salif Keita and Youssou N’Dour) guests on four tracks, bringing in jazz, salsa and South African gospel, as well as a couple of warbly, retro synth solos.