Foals’ Yannis Philippakis Announces New EP with Late Fela Kuti Drummer Tony Allen
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The post Foals’ Yannis Philippakis Announces New EP with Late Fela Kuti Drummer Tony Allen appeared first on Consequence.
Foals frontman and guitarist Yannis Philippakis has announced a new collaborative EP with Tony Allen, the late drummer who played heavily with Fela Kuti, under the name Yannis & the Yaw. He’s also shared the EP’s lead single, “Walk Through Fire.”
Landing on August 31st, the Lagos Paris London ft. Tony Allen EP has been in the works from the Foals frontman for over eight years. Philippakis first worked with Tony Allen in Paris in 2016, and began collaborating with the Nigerian Afrobeats pioneer as well as multi-instrumentalists Vincent Taeger, Vincent Taurelle, and Ludovic Bruni.
According to Philippakis, the two-day sessions culminated in an unfinished EP, and they occasionally regrouped to finish over the following four years until COVID isolated both him and Allen. Allen sadly passed in April 2020, and Philippakis felt a responsibility to carry the EP through to the finish line: “There was an imperative to finish it in a way that I had never felt with another record,” Philippakis said in a press release.
“There was a deep duty to do it, to finish it as well as possible, and to pay respect to him by getting it out there. Going through some of the drum takes was a moving experience because those recordings were some of the last pieces of music he ever worked on. There’s an eternal quality to these drum tracks, and you feel a continuity of his life and energy through them. He wanted people to hear this, and it’s good to be able to do it for him — but of course it’s slightly bittersweet.”
The singer and songwriter has shared the EP’s first single, the blues-tinged “Walk Through Fire.” The song retains much of the syncopated, guitar-rooted expressiveness that Philippakis is known for in Foals, but Allen offsets the rhythm with restless snare hits and fractured, skittering work behind the kit. The song’s relentless energy is honed by Philippakis, who howls over Allen and his collaborators with soul and spirit. Stream the song below.
The Lagos Paris London ft. Tony Allen EP is Philippakis’ first solo effort as Yannis & the Yaw. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist plans to reprise the name for more collaborative projects in the future. Meanwhile, Foals finished wrapping up their tour in support of 2022’s Life Is Yours last year; revisit our interview with Philippakis conducted ahead of the album’s release.
Meanwhile, Tony Allen’s posthumous album There Is No End arrived in 2021 to honor the late musician, and featured contributions from Damon Albarn, Sampa the Great, Danny Brown, and Skepta.
Lagos Paris London ft. Tony Allen EP Artwork:
Lagos Paris London ft. Tony Allen EP Tracklist:
01. Walk Through Fire
02. Rain Can’t Reach Us
03. Night Green, Heavy Love
04. Under The Strikes
05. Clementine
Foals’ Yannis Philippakis Announces New EP with Late Fela Kuti Drummer Tony Allen
Paolo Ragusa
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