Sinkane – Mean Love

Sinkane's 2012 album Mars made a convincing case for Ahmed Gallab being the inheritor of Curtis Mayfield's crown. On Mean Love, his delicate falsetto, the bright trumpet and flute stabs behind the vocals, the skittering percussion, all are still in evidence, as are the Sudanese and East African rhythmic patterns which give Gallab's songwriting such an original twist. Opener How We Be revels in its low-slung, minor-key melodies and yearning lyrics. New Name brings the African influences to the fore, while Yacha is twined around a pleasingly funk-infused organ riff. 

There's nothing as overtly political as Mars' standout track Runnin' here; tracks like Young Trouble lack the edge of his breakthrough, and digressions into country and western in the album's second half are confusing at best. There's a polish to Mean Love which is a sharp contrast to the grittier funk of its predecessor, the sum being a less ambitious outing overall. [Bram E. Gieben]