Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara - Soul Science

A twist of lime in those desert blues this time Even though London-born Justin Adams and Gambia’s Juldeh Camara are now no spring chickens, there was something boisterously affirmative about their first collaborative effort, Soul Science. It was as explosive a statement of intent as the first Clash album. This was a territory where explosive blues and rock riffs could collide ecstatically with time African griot rhythms and melodies. No one before had made the meeting of these two worlds seem so inevitable, natural and just such damned good fun. So where does that leave us with the traditionally ‘difficult’ second album? Well, they were hardly going to blow it after such an auspicious start now, were they? The stars of the show are still Adams’ growling, earthy guitar and Camara’s soaring ritti (single-stringed fiddle). On the album’s opener ‘Keli Keli’, Adams once again makes use of his favourite Bo Diddley rhythm (which, of course, has its routes in Africa anyway) and shares lead vocal duties with Camara. This feels like the most fully formed song the two have written together and there are some sweet call-and-response female vocals which just add to its charm. From there on, there’s more light and shade that on Soul Science, with a tangential side-step into Cuban music (‘Banjul Girls’) along with the more familiar trudges through Muddy Waters (so to speak). Highly impressive stuff. Howard Male - Songlines