Luxe

In late 2012, the year after Yann Tambour aka Stranded Horse last graced us with an album, 'Humbling Tides', the itinerant composer/multi-instrumentalist dispatched a postcard in the form of a 7” from Dakar, Senegal, where he had undertaken a residency at the city's French Institute. Its two tracks – including an unlikely cover, a pitch-perfect take on the Joy Division classic 'Transmission– displayed Tambour's own, increasingly assured kora playing, tightly woven with that of distinguished local player Boubacar Cissokho, the cousin and protege of erstwhile Tambour collaborator Ballake Sissoko; further augmented by fulani violin and balafon.

Buoyed by the fruits of this fully-integrated musical dialogue between African players/instrumentation and his own self-taught, self-built idiom, Tambour invited Cissokho to join him for some European concerts. A prestigious occasion at the Théâtre National in Toulouse, France provided Stranded Horse with the opportunity of playing as an expanded group, taking in the two koras, Tambour's classical acoustic guitar, two violinists and a cellist. A second trip to Senegal followed in summer 2013. Further solo touring saw Yann haul his homemade koras across the world, gathering new friends and old records as he roamed across Western and Central Europe, Russia, Japan, China, the US and North Africa.

Finally home for a spell in late 2013, and with a set of recordings from the two Dakar trips as a jump-off point, Yann began working on the next chapter, undertaking further sessions closer to home in Paris and Nantes, augmenting the Dakar material and adding new tracks. The end result is 'Luxe' ('Luxury' in English), the new Stranded Horse album and the strongest progression yet along the path embarked upon with debut LP 'Churning Strides', 8 years ago.

With five of its nine songs sung in English and the rest in French, the ensemble arrangements hinted at on ‘Humbling Tides’ and developed in Toulouse, find full bloom on 'Luxe'. Two tracks are elevated by the gossamer vocal timbre of Eloïse Decazes (Arlt), and there are contributions across the record from Cissokho, along with Poulo K and Bakoutoubo Dambakhate (both of whom played on the Dakar-recorded 7”), Amaury Ranger (Francois And The Atlas Mountains), Sarah Murcia, Papis Morin Mbaye and Vacarme (the trio who came together on that formative night in Toulouse between performing violinists Carla Pallone and Christelle Lassort and cellist Gaspar Claus).