Review | Songlines

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Rating: ★★★

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Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Kutiman

Label:

Siyal

December/2022

Israeli musician Ophir Kutiel – aka Kutiman – plays every instrument on this, his sixth studio album. He's undeniably talented, but it's hard not to feel he's casting promising seeds into shallow furrows. Listen closely, and you can just discern his attempts to reference – or appropriate the vibe of – different global musics: a touch of Afrobeat rhythm, echoes of 80s Somali synth-pop, even a tremulous Ethiopian sax. But they’re all smothered by the overwhelming urge to create a kind of jaunty, up-tempo trip-hop festooned with camp Wurlitzer organ, lush strings and various dubwise minutiae.

To be fair, half the tracks feature vocalist Dekel (of Israeli funk outfit Funk’n'stein), who provides a smidge of variety: ‘My Everything’ shares some of Saint Etienne's fey fascination with 60s pop-soul refracted through dance rhythms, and, on tracks like ‘Always Be Alone’, Dekel's voice is slowed down to a strangely haunted croon. But it's still not enough to make this trifle much more satisfying.

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