Soleil

AMAMI are a Geneva-based three-piece who strive to combine dancehall, Afro pop and no wave. Soleil boasts so much; there are rhythmic and melodic nods to Gnawa, funaná and ragga throughout this wonky, leftfield collection of electronica. The opener ‘Highway Dehli’ is sung in Tigrinya (a language from Eritrea, home of the group's singer, Gabriel Ghebrezghi) and throws the listener immediately into one of those strobe-lit underground rooms that we all miss so much. Ghebrezghi describes the song as ‘a shout from the heart… filled with joy, sadness, nostalgia and rebellio[n], as it encourages Eritreans… to [remember] where they came from.’

After an exceptionally strong start, for the rest of the album we're sonically thrown around from city to city with the help of Raphaël Anker, who Songlines readers will know from Imperial Tiger Orchestra. Soleil anchors listeners to the dance floor with thumping drum machines and gritty bass (courtesy of Inès Mouzoune), and drives us to wiggly dancing by pitch-shifted keyboards (from Ghebrezghi) wailing out North African melodies. Another grand success from cult label Bongo Joe, who have long been nurturing the Geneva scene and representing music from Switzerland and beyond. I can't wait for the tour.