The Amani Consort appear on The West Australian local music stage at the Light Up Leederville Carnival this Sunday, December 7, along with Cosmic Drama, The Brow, Shameem, Ensemble Formidable, Ladywood, Pimps Of Sound, Diger Rokwell, Kid Tsunami, Wisdom2th, DJ Silence and Charlie Bucket. BOB GORDON chats to Aysha Amani.
The Amani Consort have been at this for a while, but it seems as though in 2014 you’ve been able to up your profile and extend your audience. How would you describe this year?
Yeah we’ve done some really cool stuff this year and it’s gone by so quick. We started the year with a South West tour where we supported soul legend, Lee Fields. Then we played a bunch of festivals including West Coast Blues N’ Roots, which was a blast and next thing we knew we were off to Singapore for Beer Fest Asia where we got rave reviews. When we came home we jumped straight back into the studio to record our next release. Recently we were nominated for best urban act in the WAMIs, which was awesome but in the last month it’s just been about playing some of the new tunes off the new EP. The new tunes seemed to go down well at the Angove and Beaufort Street festivals, so it’s been a fantastic year for us but it’s all been bit of a blur, really.
Tell us about the single you’ve just released…
So to celebrate our WAMI nomination we thought we would leak out our first single on triple j Unearthed and give people a free download. It’s a bit more in the hip hop vibe than our previous stuff. The song’s called Getting By and it’s about doing just that. As anyone pushing in the arts biz knows it can be a tough gig and making ends meet as a creative person in a world that can sometimes undervalue, that can be tough. The lyrics are a reflection of that frustration, I guess. Its a rhyme I’ve had kicking around for a while so it’s been great to finally put down on a track and get it out of my head. The response so far has been brilliant!
Is an EP or album in the offing and if so how’s it looking stylistically?
Well we went in to put down five tracks and came out with eight so its still and EP but its a bit of a mini album. Stylistically we are still bringing our own blend of hip hop urban neo-soul vibes but this time we have tried to find some more space in these tracks and across the record there is some real light and shade. From neo soul ballads to the wall of sound that people have come to expect from The Amani Consort. We recorded at Loop Studios so that has allowed us to make use of some of the vintage pre-amps so we are really happy with the sound we have been able to pull. The addition of some guests has just helped take the whole thing to the next level,
What are your other hopes/plans for 2015?
Well we have a big launch for the new EP on March 14 at Mojo’s so that will be awesome! Hopefully we will do some more touring at the end of next year but if 2014 is anything to go by it’s onwards and upwards for The Amani Consort.
Are you looking forward to Light Up Leederville? It’s always been a good place for some funk and jazz…
Yeah we seem to be in the age of awesome boutique festivals in Perth at the moment and we are exited to be part of debut of the new West Australian music stage at this year’s Light Up Leederville Carnival. I think the carnival is going to be bigger and better than ever before by the looks of things and there is a definite focus on soul groove and funk bands which is great ‘cause we have some amazing talent in this genre in Perth. We are on at 4pm and the band and I can’t wait.
For more information visit leedervillecarnival.com.au.
