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Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: January 17, 2022
New releases from JP Bimeni & The Black Belts, Beirut and Anais Mitchell

JP Bimeni & The Black Belts
Give Me Hope
(Lovemonk Records)
★★★★

MICHAEL Kiwanuka, Leon Bridges and Curtis Harding – many contemporary artists take hefty inspiration from ’60s American soul music.

Though perhaps none more so than Burundi-born JP Bimeni. His second album is in deep debt to legends like Otis Redding and Ben E King, which is no bad thing of course, especially when the music is as full of life and emotion as this.

Beirut
Artifacts
(Pompeii Records)
★★★★

Anais Mitchell
Anais Mitchell
(BMG)
★★★★

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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