Description
In the decade and a half since their North American “breakthrough” LP, Aman Iman: Water Is Life, Tinariwen has earned a reputation as “musicians’ musicians.” The sextet’s incredible musical acumen and resilient backstory have attracted high-profile fans including Robert Plant. This level of adoration has led to the group collaborating with a gaggle of musicians over their past four albums. While many would assume this has given Tinariwen a Western slant on their brand of “desert blues,” it has, in fact, produced the opposite effect. The long-standing Tuareg collective’s shaggy and raw musical approach can be heard in the works of their former collaborators, including Cass McCombs, Josh Klinghoffer, and Kurt Vile.
After hearing Daniel Lanois remix their 2016 track “Adounia Ti Chidjret,” Jack White invited Tinariwen to his Nashville studio to record their next LP alongside Lanois and a handful of country artists. With the pandemic stalling the sessions, the group opted to record in Algeria, sending recordings to Lanois in the United States. Pairing down their collaborators to bluegrass musician Wes Corbett and Jack White side-person Fats Kaplan, Amatssou still comes off as Tinariwen’s most sonically varied affair. Across 12 tracks, the Tuareg musicians mix their rich fusion of rock and blues with raucous Americana.
