Bleep

The relationship between Sahel Sounds and guitarist/singer-songwriter Mdou Moctar bears more fruit with new LP Ilana (The Creator). This album showcases the Tuareg musician’s electrifying desert blues style and presents some of his most visceral work to date. Moctar’s mastery of the Sahel six-string thrills and delights throughout, from the first evocative guitar strains of opening track ‘Kamane Tarhanin’ through to the psychedelic closing ballad ‘Tumastin’. Also - Moctar claims that he ‘[doesn’t] know what rock is’, but some of the tracks on Ilana (The Creator) shred so hard that we wonder if that was said with a wry smile.