Wait For Me

The vinyl LP age may have been a long time ago now, but that doesn't alter the fact that 42 minutes of one band's music – any band's music – is usually as much as you want to hear in one go. Which brings us to this Antwerp collective, led by Stef Kamil Carlens and West African musicians Awa Démé and Mamadou Diabaté Kibié. Like so many they make the mistake of thinking that the more they give us, the happier we'll be. Yet if they'd left off the two or three negligible instrumentals, this debut album would have felt much more focused.

My other gripe is that Carlens’ sometimes mannered vocals and lyrics (not to mention his use of a resophonic guitar) suggest Mark Knopfler is a pervasive influence. That said, this outfit are a sound musical proposition who can generate compelling grooves with plenty of real feel and funk. Although a Western blues-rock sensibility dominates in the song structures and, to an extent, the arrangements, there are additional colours provided by rippling balafon (xylophone), complex percussion and, last but not least, Démé's complementary (rather than backing) vocals. These all add up to a pleasingly original fusion project, which benefits from a clean and unobtrusive production by Carlens himself. He should be congratulated for not placing the drums fashionably high in the mix, as it allows us to better appreciate the way all the other musicians interact.