Palaces

Electric Vocuhila, a French quartet founded ten years ago in Berlin as part of a musicians’ co-operative, display an impressive mastery of various African styles and of their instruments in their fourth album, Palaces. From drummer Etienne Ziemniak's rhythms that always push you forwards to bandleader Maxime Bobo's interlocking, jig-sawing saxophone and keyboard playing, they take a unique, punk-like approach to a cocktail of African musics. These styles include Congolese sebene, Zimbabwean sungura, and tsapiky, which is a genre of Malagasy music played at funerals and other solemn occasions, yet its style is very uplifting, as heard here.

The raw, punk-like feel to Palaces can be heard best in tracks such as ‘Paulette’, through the combination of analogue organ effects on Bobo's keyboard and guitarist Boris Rosenfeld's fuzzy licks. Throughout most tracks runs a danceable, hypnotic groove, which is ideal for a happy, sunny escape from these uncertain times. One slower piece on the album, ‘Tsatsaka’, provides a counterpoint to this dance-craze. With the absence of Ziemniak's frenetic drumming, it breaks things up and adds some dynamism to a record that otherwise would have felt a bit one-dimensional. A good pick-me-up of a record, which is needed now, more than ever.