Essam

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: City Slang
Release Date: 16th January

Imarhan's psychedelic Tuareg desert rock has me thinking 'ya know, I think I could live out there', so transportive is their tightly picked and twanging guitar grooves with evocative windswept folk.

ESSAM is the band’s fourth album, recorded with the same core lineup, but marks asignificant shift in their sound and approach. Musically, it marks a departure from the rocky,bluesy, psychedelic Tuareg guitar-driven sound influenced by Tinariwen’s heritage—movingtoward something more open, modern, and exploratory.For the first time, their long-time sound engineer Maxime Kosinetz stepped in as producer.He travelled to Tamanrasset with Emile Papandreou (of the French duo UTO), a multi-instrumentalist who introduced electronic elements by sampling live instruments andreprocessing them in real time with a modular synthesizer—subtly reshaping the band'ssonic identity.The album was recorded mostly live, in one big room at Aboogi Studio—the band’s ownrehearsal and recording space in Tamanrasset. The studio, a converted concert hall, hasbecome a kind of cultural hub for the local youth. Friends dropped by during the sessions tocontribute handclaps, vocals, and just be part of the energy. It’s a space where peoplegather, hang out, play dominoes, smoke chicha—a rare communal spot in a city thatdoesn’t offer many for young people, somewhat like a youth and communitycenter.This context—the creative shift, the live recording process, the atmosphere around Aboogi—might be interesting threads to explore in the conversation.