I’ve kept returning to Algiers’ Shook often since its release in late February. It’s an ambitious collaboration but is surprisingly cohesive and a powerful overall work. This feels like the Algiers album with the most constituent genre parts as well, and that richness lightens some deadly serious subject matter. There’s joy amid the struggle and that comes through crystal clear here.
So Algiers formed a crew. The band—who have built one of the most exciting catalogs and cult followings of recent years, with 2020’s There Is No Year described as “electrifying and unpredictable” (The Observer) and “precise, thoughtful and powerful” (NME) —gathered a posse of like-minded artists to create their fourth album, SHOOK, out February 24th on Matador. Stacked with guests spanning icons through to future stars, SHOOK is a lightning rod for an elusive yet universal energy and feeling. A plurality of voices; a spiritual and geographical homecoming; a strategy of communion in a burning world; the story of an end of a relationship; an Atlanta front porch summer party. Ultimately, it’s a 17-track set of the most mind-expanding and thrilling music that you are likely to hear anytime soon.
Shook
