Thievery Corporation - The Temple of I & I

Greek version here.

Thievery Corporation return this year, three years after Saudade, with their new album The Temple of I & I. The Temple of I & I is, besides two exceptions, a "collaborative" album, a compilation if you prefer bearing the 'Thievery Corporation' signature. The based in DC duo presents a work more rhythmic than ever, with more reggae and dub grooves, something obvious even by seeing the album's cover.

It's more obvious from the start of the first song, Thief Rockers, featuring Zee, which is a clearly dub song, with apparent reggae influences. With Racquel Jones introducing reggae and hip hop grooves and a typical... thieverical production, with the effects they never forget to use and the sense of summer dawns, here comes the Letter to the Editor.

Next up, Strike the Roots, featuring Notch, a reggae song with dub features always there, and the above mentioned effects attaching their own timbre. On the other hand, here is Ghetto Matrix, the first(!) trip hop song of the album, where Mr. Lif raps and lifts the song's tempo.

Another song with Notch, so it couldn't be anything else than reggae/ dub. True Sons of Zion, one of the songs that lyrically is close to root reggae, going back to the past, with music from the present (or the future, Thievery Corporation could easily be from outer space). And again, with possible purpose the diversion in their music, a trip hop song, or better, an electronic tune, one of those that made Thievery Corporation world known: This is The Temple of I & I, the song that gave its title to the album.

On the same patterns follows Time + Space, with Lou Lou Ghelichkhani's French vocals creating at the same time a great atmospheric and warm sense, which adds up to the already atmospheric music of Thievery Corporation and together they knock off a "radio song", pretty suitable to late night hours.

Together with Shana Halligan, they state that Love Has No Heart, in a song also written for late night, sensual someone might say, for the summer nights when there's just the two of you on the beach and only the waves and your voices break the silence.

Lose to Find: Here the trip hop nature of Thievery Corporation meets their eastern influences, like they have many times in the past did with great success, not so much though on this record, and even when this happens they are pretty well hidden. As a result, at this song you have to look for it at the background of Elin Melgarejo's vocals, at the effects and the music's features that bring you from Jamaica (as in previous songs) to... arabic nights.

And while you were wondering if there are any instrumental songs in this album, here is Let the Chalise Blaze, with the vocals adding up, as a background to the music and not the opposite. For the music, though, let's just say that it's one of the songs that created Thievery Corporation's musical identity and formed their sound, at least in relation to the image of it the public has in mind.

Seeing the name 'Notch', you already know what you're going to listen to. Reggae and dub, while psychedelic sounds stick up, with lyrics about TV and all those mass... Weapons of Distraction. Following the same groove, with Racquel Jones giving at the same time a taste of Jamaica and East, here comes the intensely political Road Block.

Political, but hip hop this time, Fight to Survive, featuring Mr. Lif rapping over a tune which is somwhere between trip hop and hip hop, downtempo, or uptempo at times, and the effects 'starring' at the instrumental parts.

Babylon Falling: Thievery Corporation's attempt to create an album that, lyrically, is close to original reggae was obvious from the start. Here we have their most 'root reggae' tune, featuring Puma on vocals. On the other hand, in modern reggae but keeping the 'original' reggae identity alive, one more song featuring Notch -who has the lion's share comparatively to the other artists. Thievery Corporation's tenth album ends as it started, with Drop Your Guns.

Thievery Corporation create with The Temple of I & I their most sociopolitical album, along with hymns to Jah and rastafari aesthetics, alongside with their psych and trip hop tunes and their eastern influences being latent this time, but always present.

Lambros Loco Papaefthimiou