In Trance

Justin Adams is perhaps the busiest man in world music at the moment. In the past few months alone he's toured with Les Triaboliques as well as producing and played on Iness Mezel's recent album Beyond the Trance.

And now he has taken his collaboration with ritti (one-string fiddle) player and vocalist Juldeh Camara up to the next level. I suspect the new snappier name (referring to their respective first names) is partly an attempt to encourage the conservative rock fan to give them a listen. And that certainly wouldn’t be a misplaced ambition, given that the sound here is denser and more full-on than it was on either their first two albums or the more sprawling, psychedelic EP The Trance Sessions. In fact the solid, steady grooves produced here are rock music in all but name. It’s just that it’s Camara’s extraordinary one-stringed lute melodies filling the space that would otherwise have been taken by screaming, screeching lead guitar solos.

But the new group name also seems to symbolise the fact that a duo has become a solid four-piece, with the addition of the formidable team of new members Dave Smith and Billy Fuller, on drums and bass respectively. While the signature sounds of Adams’ earthy guitar and Camara’s soaring mercurial ritti are still to the fore, the overall sound now has a much more substantial bottom-end. Festival bookers take note: JuJu will blow all the competition away.