Lo-Life!

Immy Owusu has an intriguing history. His grandfather is the veteran Ghanaian palmwine music hero Koo Nimo, his father, Kojo Noah Owusu, is a percussionist, now based in Australia, his mum is from a Dutch family, and Owusu was brought up on Australia's ‘Surf Coast’ listening to rock and African music. All of which explains the different influences at work on his debut, on which he sings and plays guitar and percussion, backed by a band that includes his dad. He calls his style ‘Afrodelik,’ presumably because of the occasional woozy keyboard lines and wailing electric guitar, but there's also a dash of soul and funk in this mostly laid-back set that shows Owusu to be an engaging musician yet to develop a clear sense of direction. Many of the songs start well, with slinky bass and percussion, but fail to develop beyond the spoken passages or chorus lines that would be helped by stronger vocals. Along the way Owusu shows off his guitar work on the easy-going ‘Holy Shoulders’ and has a stab at James Brown funk (complete with the screams) on ‘Nyema Kasa’, before ending with a pleasantly relaxed, mostly instrumental tribute to his grandfather, ‘Palm Wine Elixir’. After listening to which, I turned to Koo Nimo's glorious lilting songs.