About

Following the huge success of 2018’s Kokoroko EP and the sensational Abusey Junction, Could We Be More is an expansive and ambitious debut album that speaks to the force of Kokoroko.

Could We Be More is an expansive and ambitious album that speaks to the force of Kokoroko. Each song possesses the energy which so naturally underpins the heartbeat of Kokoroko’s identity - deftly moving through afrobeat, highlife, soul, and funk across the album’s 15 tracks and taking inspiration from a plethora of other influences from within the West-African and Caribbean communities that the band grew up listening to - the album gifts the listener feelings of homecoming and joy.

Speaking on the origins of Could We Be More, band members Sheila Maurice-Grey and Onome Edgeworth explain: “I think home has hugely informed the way we write and play our music. Everyone comes from different backgrounds but the thing that unites us in Kokoroko is that we all have a similar love and appreciation for afrobeat and highlife, whether that’s Ebo Taylor or Pat Thomas,” Sheila says. “It’s that feeling when you’re younger and you hear something and you feel some ownership over it. For me, Nigerian music and soul was played in the house a lot so I felt I had ownership over it so when I heard it elsewhere, there was a certain pride and energy filled with it. Recreating a piece of music that fills you with pride, ‘this is a piece of me and this is what I came from,’” Onome adds. — (via Bandcamp)

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Label: Brownswood Recordings
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: Aug 5, 2022
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Afrobeat, Contemporary Jazz, Fusion, Soul-Jazz
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File under: Afrobeats