Local Spirits

Six-piece La Chooma weave together a heady blend of instrumental sounds on Local Spirits, their full-length debut. Built on layers of intricate percussion, rumbling basslines and wandering synth lines, they reference Afro-jazz, Latin music and more – but the intoxicating psychedelic vibes that they serve up owe as much to dub production as anything else. The track ‘High Glow’ sees synth work that could have come from Afro-electro legend William Onyeabor atop a tight percussive groove and squelchy bass-tones. The effect is deeply hypnotic. Their wide-ranging cross-cultural sound is at times reminiscent of the blissed-out dub sonics of Puerto Rican dub aficionado Pachyman. Their sound could get a little samey, but the considered use of kawala flute by Alon Carmelly adds an ear-grabbing additional sonic dimension to tracks such as ‘Huachuma’ and ‘Rhinno Dance’. La Chooma’s wide range of sonic reference points and spacey sound, will make this an appealing album for fans of Afro-Latin music, dub and more.