HAilU MeRgiA

Lala belu 8/10

Washington DC’s favourite part-time taxi-driver returns after 20-year hiatus

The studio sonics are retro, but the first LP in 20 years by this Ethiopian funk pioneer is surprisingly experimental. Mergia is pushed by two experimentally inclined Australians – drummer Tony Buck (from the Necks) and Berlinbased bassist Mike Majkowski – as he leaps between several different instruments. “Tizita” starts as a swinging waltz on a buzzsaw organ; “Gum Gum” is a wonky bossa nova on Fender Rhodes and synth. Best of all is the solo piano closer: a spacey, Alice Coltrane-ish modal jazz voyage built around an Ethiopian scale.