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Yannis Philippakis surprised us by announcing “Lagos Paris London”, a solo project with Tony Allen. Here are the details.
There are certainly collaborations within the music industry that we didn’t expect, but we are grateful that they exist. Just like in the case of YAnnis Philippakis, who left us square-eyed and announced that he will release an EP that will feature a music legend, none other than Tony Allen.
As you will remember, It was in 2022 when Yanis released his latest album material with Foals, Life is yours. However, after the promotional tour for this studio album (which, of course, passed through Mexico), we heard nothing more from the leader of the British group. But now we realize that he was working on a special project away from his career with the Oxford band.
Yannis Philippakis and Tony Allen worked on an EP called “Lagos Paris London”.
It turns out that on April 16th Yannis Philippakis announced the launch of Lakes Paris Londonan EP that he will release under the name Yannis & The Yaw (refers to the nature of a project that emerged completely organically in a specific period of time) And you may be wondering what’s special about this ephemeral material. well then This is a project in which he collaborates with Afrobeat legend, drummer Tony Allen..
Through a press release, Yannis stated that he worked with Allen for more than eight years (after meeting him for the first time in Paris in 2016), as well as with the multi-instrumentalists Vincent Taeger, Vincent Taurelle and Ludovic Bruni, who has collaborated with Tony on other projects throughout his career. For two days everyone began playing and composing this incomplete material.
However, they occasionally got together over the next four years until COVID isolated them all. But in the midst of the complicated situation in the world, something very sad happened because Tony Allen died on April 30, 2020 at the age of 79.. Despite this loss Yannis Philippakis felt compelled to complete the EP to honor the memory of this great musician..
“It was imperative to finish it in a way that I hadn’t experienced with any other album. It was a deep duty to do it, to finish it as best as possible and to show respect when publishing it. It was a moving experience to watch some of the drum recordings, as these recordings were some of the last pieces of music he worked on. These drum tracks have a timeless quality and you can feel the continuity of their life and energy. “I wanted people to hear that and it’s nice to be able to do it for him, but of course it’s a little bittersweet.”
They also released “Walk Through Fire,” the first song from this material.
As a first preview of Lakes Paris London, Yannis premiered the song “Walk Through Fire,” which reflects the nature of this project as it bridges the duo’s two musical cultures.: The song retains much of the frenetic, guitar-based expressiveness Philippakis is known for on “Foals,” but Allen balances the tempo with restless snare hits and impeccable work behind the kick drum.
As if that wasn’t enough, through the lyrics, The British artist projects a metropolis in the midst of a revolutionary strugglewhich is influenced by the protest songs of Fela Kuti and inspired by the Paris garbage strike of 2016. Below we leave you the song for you to listen to.
After reading all of this, you’re probably wondering When can you hear this? Lakes Paris London. Mark the date in your calendar because you can listen to the EP starting August 30th on digital platforms. So, as you will see, we only have a little time left before we can enjoy it.
But while we wait for the introduction of this short-lived material to warm up our engines, Below we leave you the official tracklist of the collaboration between Yannis Philippakis and Tony Allen. How are you doing? Are you ready for this premiere?
1. “Walking through the fire”
2. “The rain cannot reach us”
3. “Nightgreen, hard love”
4. “Among the Strikes”
5. “Clementine”