Voodoo shamans Mama Roux
Ahead of their self titled EP launch in June, Getintothis’ Craig MacDonald is put under the spell of voodoo shamans Mama Roux.
The quartet that make up the diverse noise merchants extraordinaire that are Mama Roux are definitely setting out on the right foot. As anyone who bore witness to the group when they supported Kaleidoscope and The Wicked Whispers show earlier this month in Leaf will tell you, they are worth keeping your eye on.
With triumphant horns, a banging beat and a groove laden guitar, the band create a complex, compressed and diverse sound that can smack you in the face as much as it can sooth your soul. Mixing together the darkest of jazz elements that Dr John fans would be proud of, with a pulsating R&B beat, our heads are turned on their side and marched off into a leery world that we don’t want to leave.
Now ready to unleash their weapons on to their unsuspecting victims, the band are about to create big waves by dropping their first offering proper with their eponymous debut EP, Mama Roux, on Electone Records on 22 June.
The lead track from the EP is a full-scale ambush on the ears in The Storm. Setting off into the clear, the track slowly builds up from the moment that it begins, crafting together to make an ominous cloud of sultry blues. Clattering against the soulful vocals, forces crash together to create an almighty powder keg of a chorus with an intensity that Swans fans could alike to.
As the track continues to race along at breakneck pace, the lurid saga is played out until its spellbinding end and with it you’re left as if awaking from a dark mystic spell, dumbstruck by the raucous cacophony you have just been assaulted with.
The attention to detail that the group have shown with their first release holds great hope for the future of this roaring four-piece. Roll on June when the melting pot will spill over into The Magnet for the group’s EP launch.
