Elwan (Elephants) is album eight from Sahara Desert rebel-guitar rockers Tinariwen and it shows the band continuing to develop their sound. With three lead guitars and two further guitarists, the band has a much wider and more rock-oriented fan base than many other bands out of Africa. The guitars are turned-up, fuzzy and distorted and the playing is intricate and readily comparable to blues and rock, but there is no mistaking where this music is from.

When songs such as ‘Nizzagh Ijbal’ (‘I Live In the Mountains’) call for it, out come the acoustics for beautiful and super-tasty picking. Other tunes, such as ‘Ittus’ (‘Our Goal’), feature a more minimalist, moody, slow, blues approach similar to that of Ali Farka Touré. The main development here is the addition of a four-piece percussion ensemble that really packs a punch and adds some serious bottom-end to the music. The multi-layered sound has a hypnotic power and headphone listening is an other-worldly experience.

Having been exiled from their homeland of Mali, which has been devastated by strife and drought, Tinariwen now travel the world. Their melancholic call and response vocals are very moving and the language difference is no barrier at all to the listening experience. Lyrically, the themes are typical Tinariwen – poetic descriptions of desert life, calls for unity and laments for the traditional way of life. The album was recorded in Morocco, France and that almost mythical place of American music, Joshua Tree, California. A couple of rockstar musicians including Kurt Vile and Mark Lanegan drop by to add some very complementary vocals and guitar on a few tracks.

Paul Barr