Blick Bassy s stunning and original debut for pioneering French label Nø Førmat! Composed and performed by Blick Bassy, accompanied by a unique ensemble of guitar, banjo, cello and trombone, Akö s eleven sparklingly original tracks are a musical revelation. Remarkable then, to consider that these are recordings that were never intended for release. Bassy s original idea was to get together with the cellist Clément Petit and trombonist Fidel Fourneyron to record a few songs in homage to his longtime hero Skip James. By chance, the studio they hired was directly below the offices of Nø Førmat!, the innovative French label run by Laurent Bizot, who happened to hear the results of this unlikely yet inspired musical alchemy and promptly signed them up. Sung in Bassa, a language and tradition that he has long hampioned, Bassy sings of the village he grew up in rural Cameroon – drawing connections between the itinerant musicians of his childhood with journeyman blues legend Skip James. While the influence of the Malian folk of Ali Farka Toure can be detected on Tell Me and Mama, and the complex melodic patterns betray his Cameroonian roots throughout, this is an album that makes subtle references to a musical palette that ranges from the Gypsy Swing flavours of Wap Do Wap to the sparse and haunting singer songwriter classic in the making Ndjèl. The track Kiki features in the new advertising campaign for the Apple iPhone 6.