Talitakum

Avalanche Kaito’s 2022 self-titled debut was a triumph of noise punk indelibly informed by griot music from Burkina Faso. Since then, relentless live shows and a slightly reworked line-up (bass replaced by guitar) have evolved the Franco-Belgo-Burkinabé trio’s sound. This time, their music feels a little more considered. It’s just as foreboding, abrasive and hypnotic, but the anarchic chaos is replaced by something more direct and focussed.

Each of the nine tracks on Talitakum has a unique sound that complements the album as a whole – it can go from glitch trap on one to Touareg Beefheart punk on the next. It is the attitude that unites them, the complex creativity of three musicians in simpatico, the delicious contrasts of frontman Kaito Winse’s beautiful voice against the harsh discords of distorted guitar and synth, the declamatory tama (talking drum) against the crashing drum kit.

The world of Avalanche Kaito no longer feels like a rattling, angry machine constantly on the verge of losing control, instead like a purposeful, powerful elemental spirit that creates through destruction. That change is for neither better nor worse, but it shows that this is a group that mutate and adapt and grow with experience, and will always have something new to say.