“Agadez” Album Review by Bombino
Where the music breaks loose, the results are magical…
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OVERALL 87 |
PRODUCTION 72 |
VOCALS 79 |
INSTRUMENTALS 97 |
LYRICS 89 |
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If love at first sight takes your breath away, then true love surely fills your lungs and sustains you. ‘Agadez’, the new album by the incredibly talented guitarist Bombino, is very much a story of true love. And, indeed, the opening moments of the first track, titled “I Greet My Country”, hit you with an instant reflexive need to breathe in deeply.
Mali and Niger have produced a bounty of the world’s greatest guitar players of late, so it is no surprise to find that Bombino hails from the arid lands of western Niger. It is to this land, and for his people, that he lovingly sings and strums.
BUY FROM AMAZON  |
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BUY FROM AMAZON |
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Throughout the experience, the progressive scales feel like a perfectly rythmic stair climbing. Even in portions where the chords repeat, the throbbing drums give the music a living heartbeat that charms your own heart into falling in line. A major part of the album’s charm is in the restraint shown in keeping rhythm and harmony at the forefront . . . A noticeable achievement given that guitar chops like these nearly always lend towards highly experimental experiences. In rare moments where the music breaks loose, the results are magical. During the ending of “You, My Beloved” an ethereal yelling ushers in a particularly wonderful unrestrained portion of the album, one of many little treasure chests of sound you’ll find throughout the album.
The soundscape you travel during ‘Agadez’ is vast, with each track marking a unique path on the larger journey, but the album is constructed in a strikingly professional manner that leaves you feeling uplifted and optimistic from start to finish . . . a striking tone since the background of objects of affection have been in a perpetual state of conflict and persecution.
Sung entirely in Bombino’s native Taureg tongue, Tamasheq, the album is still accessible and does everything possible to be so- offering English translations of all song titles and lyrics as well as pictures of Agadez playing to his homeland.
