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The Scorpios

22/04/2020Sudanese Septet Releases Hypnotic Debut On Afro7 Records
 

Listening is key. This is one of the motifs that has been a recurrent theme in our daily work and still rings true. We listen and thus we learn. We discover new music by listening to the music others discover before us and follow their lead. Then, we introduce others to the music we value, hoping they'll listen, and so on and so forth. It was listening to Danish vocalist, producer and dj Astrid Engberg's "Djiguiya Mix" for Copenhagen-based record shop Palmspree a few weeks back that we discovered The Scorpios and were instantly taken. 

Hailing from Central Sudan, the now London-based septet "melds Arabic rhythms and guitar chops (and a kind of swooning cyclical ecstasy) with a raw Eastern funk feel, properly dismantling cultural barriers in pursuit of a unifying rhythmic bliss. Heavy bass, synths, horns and percussions drive through traditional Sudanese forms to create a sound that owes as much to Detroit as it do to Khartoum,” writes the TUSK Festival, where the band performed in 2016 (see video below).

At the start of 2019, The Scorpios released their debut album on Afro7, including beautiful artwork by Toronto's A Man Called Warwick. All tracks are led by captivating, hypnotic vocals, floating over varied rhythmic patterns, multi-layered psychedelic guitar riffs and poignant synth lines. Our personal favourite is the track Astrid Engberg picked to open her mix, a track entitled "Gamar Alsebou", which translates to "Cycle Of The Moon". Listen to the full release via the Bandcamp player below. Album number two is expected later this year. 

AUTHOR: Lev Nordstrom