Sometimes you don’t find the music, the music finds you. Since AFRICA.ROCKS launched in late December, I’ve been lucky enough to meet new people and hear their work. When you’re addicted to this art, you end up putting yourself through the long, punishing ritual of listening to hours of sound that doesn’t move you, just for the hope that something addictive will eventually appear. Having a band like Anemoya cross my path feels like being spared all that labour.
They haven’t reinvented the wheel, not at all. But they know how to use it. They weave a progressive sound with just enough oriental colour, bring in ethnic sounds, and pair it with vocals that lean into gothic moods while also reaching for something folkloric, in the traditional sense. The voice lands better in the sweeter, more emotional passages than in the technical ones, but on their first full-length they still manage to stand out. Reflections offers something fresh and seductive, with an introspective and critical point of view, and a sense of release too, painting an Egypt that shaped both the sound and the philosophy of this five-piece.
It starts in “Alexandria”, then follows the progressive current of “Pathological Liar” into the emotion of “Cold Feet” and “Phantom Pain”. Reflections earns its title. The title track is one of the best examples of what this debut can pull off, along with “The Orientalist”, which flips the album’s direction entirely. It feels like a sandstorm hits and you lose your bearings, then you’re drawn into a denser, more pleasurable atmosphere. I wanted more of that side across the record.
After another instrumental stop, this time in “Cairo”, “Echo Chambers” pushes the keyboards to the front, with genuinely beautiful melodies that feel like they belong to another time. The album closes with “Polarized”, slower and more melancholic, but never boring.
My only real note is that I’d like to hear the vocalist step further outside their comfort zone. Some of these riffs ask for more bite, instead of staying in a register they clearly control, but which can start to feel a little monotonous by the end of this 50-minute journey.
I’ve been chewing through a lot of releases lately, and some of them just slide past. This one didn’t. When it ended, I just sat there for a second (that’s the kind of reaction you hope a full album can earn), and that says more than any score ever could.
