Tassili

Once Tinariwen became indie rock's favourite African act, it was probably only a matter of time before they recorded their ‘crossover’ album. Enter members of cool American rock bands Wilco and TV On The Radio, and the New Orleans horns of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to assist our Touareg heroes. The relentless demand for musical growth, in which it is a cardinal sin to make an album that sounds the same as its predecessor, is, one suspects, a specifically Western obsession. Left to their own devices, most African musicians place more store on tradition and once they've found their groove, it takes a lot to get them to mess with it. So how does this play out on Tinariwen's fifth album? Well, they still sound splendid but throughout you can hear the influence of a Western record company, filtering the raw earthiness of African desert blues for a Western rock audience. The opener, ‘Imidiwan Ma Tenam’, offers a classic Tinariwen template, but with layers of ambient background noise added by Wilco's Nels Cline. ‘Tenere Taqqim Tossam’ starts with a familiar loping Touareg rhythm, but it is gradually smoothed-out to become an exercise in African-tinged indie, complete with overtasteful vocals in English from members of TV On The Radio.

Even without the American presence, there's another significant change, too, for the electric guitars have been much muted in favour of an acoustic, around-the-campfire sound. ‘Ya Messinagh’ is a moody acoustic jam with jazzy, funereal New Orleans brass grafted on to its Touareg spine. The acoustic guitars on ‘Walla Illa’ tinkle sweetly like Nick Drake or early Donovan, with the lead vocal in Tamasheq supported by cooing backing vocals, the cultural origins of which lie in California rather than the Sahara. There's no denying the appeal of Tinariwen's heavily tweaked new sound. But many may decide they prefer the more unadulterated approach of earlier albums.