Emotional existential history set to liquid guitars and groovy baselines.

Though Sinkane has spent much of his musical career as as session musician with groups like Yeasayer, Caribou, and Born Ruffians, on his sophomore debut record, Mean Love, the man otherwise known as Ahmed Gallab delivers a wholly enjoyable blend of afrobeat, classic pop, and electronics.

Gallab spends the majority of the record in the upper, often falsetto reaches of his vocal range in a delivery that, while not entirely unique, more than gets the job done, and perfectly combines with the funk rhythms and delicate synthesizers that make up the majority of the tracks. The music is easily digestible and light, which, if delivered by a less skilled musician, could mean it is forgettable, yet Gallab does quite a bit with the tracks here.

The first half of the record places more of an emphasis on influences coming from funk and dub electronica, with tracks developing a grove that various effective hooks are placed on top of. Starting with the track “Moonstruck‰Û, however, Gallab adds bossa nova, 50’s pop, and occasional country flair into his compositions, a possibly dangerous proposition to add to the electronics, though it’s done entirely naturally.

On the whole, this record is an extremely likeable, summery piece of pop with refreshingly varied influences, with the only real weak spot coming in some of the clich̩ lyrics. The variety and skillful composition demonstrated here is superb, and cements Sinkane as one of the most consistent deliverers of excellent, if somewhat direct, forward thinking pop music.

RIYL: Fela Kuti, Tycho, Santigold, Yeasayer
Recommended: 1, 2, 4, 5