Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
Album reviews with IAN SINCLAIR: April 1, 2024
Reviews of Les Amazons d’Afrique, Adrianne Lenker, and John Surnam

Les Amazones d’Afrique
Musow Danse
(Real World)

★★★



ALL-WOMAN supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique take their name from the Dahomey Amazons, an all-women west Africa military regiment that existed from the 17th century to the 19th century — the subject of the 2022 Hollywood blockbuster The Woman King.

Produced by Jacknife Lee (U2, Taylor Swift), their third album is a big, bold set full of glitchy, hip-hop-fuelled pop songs. Comprised of Mamani Keita from Mali, Fafa Ruffino from Benin, Kandy Guira from Burkino Faso, Dobet Gnahore from the Ivory Coast and Congolese singer/actress Alvie Bitemo, they champion women’s rights in Africa and the rest of the world.

Adrianne Lenker
Bright Future
(4AD)

★★★★

John Surman
Words Unspoken
(ECM)

★★★★

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Short Story / 7 February 2025
7 February 2025
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
BenchMarx / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
Best of 2024 / 3 January 2025
3 January 2025
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
Theatre review / 29 November 2024
29 November 2024
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
Similar stories
Album reviews / 9 September 2024
9 September 2024
New releases from David Grubb, Bright Eyes and Trygve Seim, Frode Haltli
Album reviews / 3 June 2024
3 June 2024
New releases from Nat King Cole, Bonny Light Horseman and Frank Turner
Album reviews / 13 May 2024
13 May 2024
Scotland's finest, hippie memorabilia and the best Americana of 2024 so far: reviews of Jack Bruce, Music from Laurel Canyon, and Dylan LeBlanc
Album reviews / 23 April 2024
23 April 2024
New releases include Jack Bruce, Music From Laurel Canyon 1967 - 1975 and Dylan LeBlanc