The buzz around Songhoy Blues is easy to understand. The Malian quartet may describe their music as Desert Blues, but anyone expecting a Tinariwen soundalike is in for a surprise. There is something raw and earthy at its core, but also a taut, nervous funk reminiscent of Talking Heads. Their forthcoming album Résistance, produced by Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and featuring Iggy Pop, makes the punk connection even more explicit.
Singer Aliou Touré commands the stage, but guitarist Garba Touré is the band's secret weapon. His playing is bluesy, funky and occasionally abrasive, but never gets in the way of the songs. He doesn't play over them. He gets inside their rhythms.
There is real history behind the name Résistance. Songhoy Blues came together after Islamist militants took control of northern Mali and imposed a regime that included banning music, forcing the musicians south to Bamako. That makes the sheer vitality of their music significant in itself. Traditional Malian sounds meet blues, funk and rock without any obvious dividing line between them. For Songhoy Blues, playing rock music isn't an empty gesture of rebellion: they are the Resistance.
