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Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara
Soul Science
(World Village)
First Appeared in The Music Box, May 2008, Volume 15, #5
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Tue May 27, 2008, 06:30 AM CDT
Soul Science is a slow-burning album that reveals its many surprises
and innovations gradually. It is a collaboration between Justin Adams — the
guitarist in Strange Sensation, Robert Plant’s backing band — and Juldeh Camara
— a griot from Gambia who plays a rifti (a one-string fiddle). Its 11 songs
provide some of the tastiest gut-bucket blues this side of Muddy Waters’ early
material. The music is, at once, reassuringly familiar and utterly exotic and
strange. Embedded within the album’s subtext is a commentary on the history of
blues’ and rock’s African origins that is as alluring, enticing, and challenging
as anyone is ever likely to hear.
Over the past several years, Adams has become something of a cultural
ambassador for music that is fomenting in West Africa’s desert region. A veteran
of the post-punk scene in Britain, Adams worked as a session guitarist with the
likes of Sinead O’Connor, Jah Wobble, and Peter Gabriel before he issued Desert Road, his solo debut in 2001. On the album, which he recorded in his
home studio, Adams conjured a series of gentle electronica-inspired, percussive
soundscapes, which echoed the desert rhythms of the Tuareg people. With tasty
blues licks, which he superimposed over the basic tracks, Desert Road
offered listeners a chance to enjoy the similarities among ancient desert
rhythms, gospel music, and early rock ’n‘ roll. On a subsequent trip through
Mali with Plant in 2003, he encountered the swirling melodies and hypnotic
grooves of Tinariwen and Tartit at the Festival in the Desert. Adams’ subsequent
collaborations with Tinariwen produced a pair of fine albums: Amassakoul
and Aman Iman.
Each of the songs on Soul Science represents an equal collaboration
between Adams and Camara. The yearning insistence of Camara’s rifti playing
defines the melodies, which range from the searing Bo Diddley-inspired
distortions that are captured on Yo Ta Kaaya to the lovely, lilting,
desert-born dreamscapes that are offered on Yo Lay Lay. Working within a
blues structure, Adams uses his guitar to help the listener find and ride the
dominant rhythms by making a bridge between African traditional grooves and the
rock, funk, and soul that since have grown out of them. Many of the tracks on Soul Science are supported by the muscular percussion of Salah Dawson
Miller, an Algerian-influenced hand-drummer. Together, the trio has created one
of the most unusual and interesting collaborations to be issued this year. It
might take a little patience, but if it is approached with open ears, fans of
Led Zeppelin, Ali Farka Toure, Blind Willie McTell, and Muddy Waters will find a
lot to enjoy on Soul Science.  ˝
Of Further Interest...
Omar & the Howlers - The Screaming Cat
Seth Walker - Seth Walker / self-titled
Muddy Waters/Johnny Winter/James Cotton - Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down
Soul Science is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
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For UK orders, please
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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