Nubiyan Twist - Chasing Shadows (Strut Records Yellow Vinyl LP)

Nubiyan Twist - Chasing Shadows | Vinyl LP - 2026 Strut Records (STRUT507LP, yellow vinyl)

Nubiyan Twist have been a nine-piece band since Tom Excell formed the group at Leeds College of Music in 2011, and they've sounded like more than nine the entire time. Excell plays guitar and produces; Luke Wynter plays bass, Lewis Moody plays keyboards, Finn Booth plays drums, and the horn section runs from Jonathan Enser's trumpet through Nick Richards on alto, Denis Scully on tenor and Hannah-Mae Birtwell on baritone saxophone. On Chasing Shadows, their fifth studio album, new lead vocalist Eniola Idowu, a recent Trinity Laban Conservatoire graduate, replaces the rotating guest vocalists of earlier records with a consistent presence across the album. She sings on "Azimuth," trades verses with M.anifest on "How Far" and raps over "Body Flows," shifting between registers in a way that holds together a tracklist that moves between Afrobeat, dub, hip hop, jazz-funk and soul without staying in any one groove long enough to settle. Fatoumata Diawara's vocal on the title track is the album's centrepiece, a seven-minute Afrobeat workout with the horns churning underneath, and Joe Armon-Jones drives "Rhythm Of You" into dub territory from behind the keys. Bootie Brown brings the Pharcyde's LA hip hop cadence to "Red Herring," Mr Williamz voices "Message" over a dancehall-inflected beat, and The Zawose Queens appear on "MIonje: Voices Joined" with Tanzanian vocal harmonies that sit surprisingly well against the horn section.

Excell's other credits include long-standing work with Africa Express, Damon Albarn's cross-cultural project, and the Afrobeat duo Onipa, and those connections show in the range of collaborators the band attracts. Previous Nubiyan Twist albums have featured Tony Allen, Mulatu Astatke, Seun Kuti, Nile Rodgers and Soweto Kinch, and the current guest list continues that pattern. Strut Records has been the band's home since Freedom Fables in 2021. This is the 2026 Strut Records release (STRUT507LP), pressed on yellow vinyl and manufactured in Germany by K7 Music.