Yao Bobby & Simon Grab

Amongst the doom, gloom, uncertainty and general anxiety of the last years, it’s been inspiring, and indeed hope-giving to see collaborators Yao Bobby, based in Togo, and Simon Grab, out of Switzerland, stick through hard times and keep pushing on to record this album, despite living around 4500 kilometres apart. A tough challenge during a time of border closures, lockdowns and screen mediated interactions. \n \nDuring the process of writing and recording the album, they had to navigate a corrupt Togolese government, unfair visa restrictions for outsider access to the fortress of Europe, tour cancellations, lockdowns, parenthood, and all that comes with juggling life and creative energy. If you asked us, we’d say that these challenges are enough proof of a need for this record to exist. \n \nFor us, music is about manifesting a kind of spirit of our time, and this album does it. It somehow captures the insanity of the last years, and spits it back with a powerful sense of rebellion. In a world at a kind of (post) colonialist, capitalist boiling point, Yao Bobby & Simon Grab are a loud and proud voice for unity, but not for uniformity.