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CD Review
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Word Magazine, CD Review >>
TINARIWEN
Prowling West African grooves on Aman Iman: Water Is Life
By Howard Male
West African band Tinariwen have become an excuse for critics to wax lyrical about how the endless expanse of the desert and the relentless beating sun inform their sound, so let's for a change just concentrate on the music. There's nothing's more exciting than when a band create a definitive statement in the form of a flawless album (as this lot did with 2004's Amassakoul) only to then better it. The basic template of cyclical, prowling grooves conjured from slippery and deceptively simple guitar riffs remains. But there's greater textural variety in the guitar timbres (listen to the blistering use of a wah-wah pedal on Assouf) and an emotionally wider spectrum with the inclusion of more contemplative tracks such as the sublime 63.
Is exquisite an appropriate word to to describe what is essentially a rock and roll album? Probably not. But this is, and it always will be. 02/12/07
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