Keep It Tropical

Australian-Samoan singer, ukulele strummer and drummer Bobby Alu (aka Charles Robert Fa’agalu Wall) was born and raised in Queensland’s Gold Coast-Brisbane region, and now lives in the New South Wales holiday Mecca of Byron Bay. Learning ukulele from the age of six, Alu still occasionally duets onstage with his singing Samoan mother, and as a percussionist he spent several years touring the world backing fellow Aussie songsmith Xavier Rudd. Following his previous solo releases, on this fourth studio album Alu continues to incorporate his island heritage into a relaxed mix of tropical pop, Pacific reggae and acoustic folk-based melodies. Featuring his trademark uke and percussion-fuelled groove, Alu’s Keep It Tropical includes the catchy title track, a breezy ‘Do It’, the light reggae of ‘Sunsets (With You)’ and a chilled ‘Take Time to Take Time Out’. Nothing overly serious here, nothing too demanding, just a finger-tapping sway in a sun-drenched musical hammock.