#emefe

EMEFE - Forward - more Afrobeat from New York; their three singles from last year are now collected with seven additional new tracks for their first full album in several years

albums i’ve been listening to this month

top row: Fleece’s Voyager (2017) // Whitney’s Light Upon The Lake (2016) // Loyle Carner’s Yesterday’s Gone (2017)

New York Afrobeat band EMEFE are releasing new music again! It's been seven years since their last album; three singles so far this year.

"THE DIRT" BEGAN AS A VISION OF TOGETHERNESS IN A TIME OF ISOLATION, LOCKDOWN 2020, A NEW YORK CITY APARTMENT, ADAPTING TO A MORE DISTANT LIFESTYLE, THINKING BACK TO WHAT WAS SUDDENLY DUBBED THE BEFORE TIMES, IMAGINING A 10-PIECE BAND OF FRIENDS, ON A STAGE AT A BELOVED MUSIC VENUE, PLAYING A SONG FOR A CROWD OF DEAR MUSIC LOVERS, SOMETHING MAYBE TAKEN FOR GRANTED IN THE PAST, BUT NEVER TAKEN FOR GRANTED AGAIN, A SONG THAT WAS UNDENIABLE, A SONG THAT PULLED YOU OUT OF THE SELF AND INTO THE COLLECTIVE, AND ENCOURAGED YOU TO MOVE, TO BREAK OUT FOR JUST A FEW MINUTES, AN INSTRUMENTAL GAME OF TELEPHONE, PASSING A MESSAGE FROM ONE GUITAR TO THE NEXT, FROM A BARITONE SAXOPHONE TO A FARFISA TO A SNARE DRUM, EACH TRANSMISSION ALTERING THE MESSAGE EVER SO SLIGHTLY, UNTIL ALL THE MESSAGES COMBINE TO FORM A SUPER MESSAGE, A SHARED EXALTATION, A MOMENT OF ONENES, THE ROOM JUMPS TOGETHER, SIMPLY IN CELEBRATION OF TOGETHERNESS THROUGH MUSIC, NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS, THE MOST MAGICAL THING IN THE WORLD. WE ARE SO HAPPY TO SHARE NEW MUSIC WITH YOU AGAIN. THIS SONG IS FOR YOU - OUR LISTENERS - THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING US TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD. PERFORMED BY: MILES FRANCIS: DRUMS, GUITARS DOUG BERNS: BASS JAKE PINTO: FARFISA, WURLITZER JAVIER RAMOS: CONGAS, PERCUSSION JAS WALTON: TENOR SAXOPHONE JACKIE COLEMAN: TRUMPET AANI KISSLINGER: TROMBONE LYNN LIGAMMARI: BARITONE SAXOPHONE LOLLISE MBI: SHEKERE