Leave to Remain

With members of the group hailing from Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Ghana, Congo, Spain, Argentina, not to mention the UK, it's something of a miracle that Wara manage to keep their Latin funk fusion – with occasional sidesteps into reggae and sociopolitical rap – so cohesive and focused.

My only criticism is that some of the tightly played, immaculately arranged songs on this debut are more complicated than they need to be. Maybe hard-to-please London crowds have made the band believe that if they keep changing rhythms, styles and tempos, and throwing in raps, the audience will be less likely to head for the bar.

Whereas what they really should be doing is calming down, taking a deep breath, and just picking a groove and sticking to it. This kind of less-is-more approach could have been applied to the track ‘Run For Cover’ for example. It begins with an agreeably languorous roots reggae groove, gallops off into a ska section during the chorus, drops back for a few bars of satirical rap, and then it's another burst of ska before a final Latin groove for the last minute or so. Really, guys: too many grooves spoil the broth.

However, Leave to Remain is still a sassy, well-produced, energy-filled debut which, unlike many contemporary albums, doesn't outstay it's welcome. And the closing track, ‘Caprichoso, has all the makings of a Latin pop classic that in an ideal world would spend half the summer at number one.