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Kokoroko: Tuff Times Never Last review – ruminative jazz outfit get stuck in a relaxed rut
The London collective have an easygoing, ruminative sound – briefly lifted here by moments of lively counterpoint – that can feel all too placid
The group establish a confident and comforting tone, playing through the lullaby vocal harmonies of Never Lost, the slowed guitar of Closer to Me and Rhodes piano reverberations on My Father in Heaven. There are shades of difference: the second half of the Afrobeat-influenced Sweetie brings in interweaving horn solos from trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey and trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, finding brief moments of lively counterpoint before dissolving into silence. Idea 5 veers into sultry R&B thanks to featured vocalist Lulu, and Da Du Dah plays like a sun-kissed piece of 80s Brit funk.
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