Mezclatotäl

The one thing you cannot accuse Komasi of is a lack of ambition. Respectively from France, Burkina Faso and Chile, group members Simon Chenet, Koto Brawa and Mauricio Santana have form, having worked with Femi Kuti, Blick Bassy, Manu Dibango and others. They bring this musical experience together for a fusion of African, European and Latin American styles that refuses to be pinned down, and suffers as a result.

‘Magic Moustache’ is swaggering Latin folk-rock with a twisting African blues guitar that works well with Brawa's deep lead vocals, before the song inexplicably shifts into a Spanish-language rap. By ‘Olvido’ it's clear that rapping can emerge at any moment, this one featuring a rap verse over a dingy melody, with a chorus ripped out of a power ballad and occasional flourishes of kora adding mere ornamentation. On ‘Cubamafrica’ they add guest vocalists for a messy trap experiment, while ‘Bontchiere’ is a loose psychedelic Afrobeat that heads off into Jethro Tull prog nonsensicality. There are good moments – ‘Doni Doni’ is a catchy cover of a Guinean song with Cuban tres and ‘Dunia’ sounds like World Circuit's AfroCubism band taking on cumbia – but too often the band's over-exuberance leads to a cacophony of ideas.