Simone White
Letter To The Last Generation
(Ghost Palace/Cargo)
★★★★★

IT IS the stupendous orchestrations that elevate Simone White’s meditative sotto voce interpretations into a realm of simultaneous solace and unsettling melancholy.

The hauntingly pulsating Harvest: “They said they could use our only son, now it’s come the revolution… we killed the thieves among the dusty leaves/ and then we prayed for better days…” Or the simple sorrow of Tiny Drop chorus: “How much will it cost/ a lot a lot…/ for all the wars you fought/ you are a tiny drop,” embroidered with a haunting violin passage.

The regrets of “Why did we wait/ all the signs were there,” in the expansive almost symphonic Letter To The Last Generation also harbours fatalism “By the time you find this it will be too late” — a poetically apt evocation of the hopelessness of our time.

White’s ruminations are an engrossing oeuvre of breathtaking lyricism, a gift that restores tired souls. A gem.

Brass Funkeys
Blow Horn
(The Brass Funkeys)
★★★★★

THIS nine-piece collective from London admit they’ve fallen head over heels with the New Orleans tradition, (listen to: Just a Closer Walk) as much as with Louis Armstrong and Buddy Bolden, but salute as they may their musical heroes their material is homemade and uniquely original.

Brass bands were a staple in working class communities and although deadly serious in their musical endeavour there is an inherent entertaining playfulness attached to their fare.

Typically, their spirited Harvey Barnes is a tribute to Newcastle United’s “old school” winger, also honoured by “Magpies” supporters with a chant version of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart: “Barnes, Barnes will tear you apart again,/ Barnes, Barnes will tear you apart again.”

Spice Your Life, with some tremendous drumming, and Hanging Man, ornamented with a brilliant trumpet solo, will get you dancing in nano seconds.

The elaborate arrangements and harmonisations are wondrous. Uplifting and exhilarating.

Souad Massi 
Zagate
(BackingTrack Productions)
★★★★★

THE word Zagate signifies colloquially “things are getting worse” and Souad Massi, born in the working-class neighbourhood of Algiers, Bab-El-Oued, knows what she’s talking about.

Ultra-conservative Islamists hounded her out of Algeria when she toured the country with the legendary political-rock outfit Atakor, in the late 1990s. Is she political? “I prefer to keep that word for those who are out in the field,” she replies.

Zagate conveys, breathtakingly, her inimitable talent in employing the North African musical idioms subtly reinforced with rock tonalities to add urgency to the message: “The men of power/ Yes, the men of power have sealed their deal on our lives.”

And the metronomic, recitative two-parter The Equation: “Ignorance breeds fear
/ And fear breeds hatred/ And hatred breeds violence
/ That’s the equation,” mesmerises. So does Congo Connection and the infectious positivity of Ana Inssan (I am human).

Startling and memorable. Miss not.