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Addis Through The Looking Glass

Dub Colossus

When their first album, A Town Called Addis, was released back in 2008 it was hailed as one of the most inventive fusion albums of the year, with its blend of contemporary and traditional Ethiopian styles, jazz and dub reggae. Now comes a lengthy, even more varied and sophisticated album that moves the experiment on - with the Ethiopians predictably playing a greater role in the proceedings.

Addis Through The Looking Glass was recorded mostly in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the idea being to have a more Addis-based musical starting point to reflect the fact that things have evolved and developed. The result is an album that constantly surprises and constantly changes direction, from atmospheric, wide-screen, drifting jazz-dub instrumentals like the title track, through to breathy love songs and bluesy traditional pieces featuring the messenqo fiddle or traditional krar harp, now treated to a Dub Colossus make-over, with spacey, microtonal keyboard.

"Replete with magical moments... a focused alliance of contemporary grooves with the distinctive strains of soul and jazz coming out of modern Ethiopia..."
The Independent *****

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Addis Through The Looking Glass at realworldrecords.com