In May, Mdou Moctar will release their new album Funeral for Justice and the first single was an early indication that Mdou would be back to rock our faces off. The new single, "Imouhur," confirms that idea and turns things up to 11. After a bit of bluesy, nearly folk-rock intro, Moctar slams on the fuzz pedal and the song ignites with unbridled fury and leaps out of your speakers with total force and serious vengeance. Since the band's last album, 2021's amazing Afrique Victim, the band experienced unexpected hardships like getting stuck in the U.S. after tour due to a coup in their native country of Niger. A lot of the album was written in response to ongoing issues in the country and "Imouhur" was written in dedication to Mdou's native language of Tamasheq and in a press release stated "People here are just using French. They’re starting to forget their own language. We feel like in a hundred years no one will speak good Tamasheq, and that’s so scary for us." You can hear the passion and immense sense of pride that echoes throughout the song and even if the language is a barrier, the expressive guitar playing is sure to leave you speechless as Moctar easily asserts himself as one of the greatest players of our time, his style of playing beyond measure and unlike anyone else making music today. The song soars to life with effective finger picking and big drum fills and in the final moments, Moctar lets loose and takes off, his guitar wizardry unleashing total magic right before our very ears and eyes. It's an absolute monster of a song that will surely leave your head spinning in a state of pure joy and total amazement. This is the captivating and powerful nature of music coming together to help unite people to celebrate love, customs, and traditions and share them with the rest of the world around you. We're lucky to have Mdou Moctar making such powerful and connecting music and even more lucky that he sounds so good making it too.
Funeral for Justice is out May 3.
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