New album by Bokanté + Metropole Orkest out now

Featuring the singles All The Way Home and Fanm, What Heat was recorded between Brooklyn, NY and Hilversum in the Netherlands. The album follows the debut album Strange Circles, and continues band leader Michael League’s exploration of world music:

“I wanted to put together a band that traces the blues from its roots in Africa and the Arab world throughout the diaspora and into a modern context. A big part of the blues belongs to an acoustic idiom; I wanted this band to pursue how groove-based and soulful it can be.”

Bokanté truly is a global music project: vocalist Malika Tirolien is a Montreal-based Guadeloupian who sings in Creole, and amongst the 8-strong line-up they have members from the USA, Sweden and Japan (via Brazil).

Read more about the inspiration behind What Heat on the album’s release page

Reviews of What Heat

“Buckley’s orchestrations add eastern-tinged atmosphere that sometimes echoes the dramatic thud of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’… on the best tracks the music attains a hypnotic grandeur.” ★★★★ The Times (UK)

“The feeling of drama cannot be ignored and the sheer expanse of sound is wonderful, each note is perfectly executed, each exhale is made with seeming ease and beauty …This is stunning beyond expectation and will have you pausing for breath on many occasion. Amazing.” Louder Than War (UK)

“Guadaloupe-born singer Malika Tirolien’s vocals are supple, capable of both delicacy and force, and with hip-hop inflections” The Observer (UK)

Purchase/Stream the album