Produced by Andrew Hung, “Shackles' Gift” is the album that Zun Zun Egui have always threatened to deliver and we always believed they would. Opening with ‘Rigid Man’, it hits the listener with bone-shaking tropical funk. Future single ‘African Tree’ strolls past on a marching band rhythm, complete with an arena-sized chorus and Kyuss-heavy stoner rock guitars. ‘Ruby’ is like imperial period Depeche Mode discovering the delights of industrial dancehall reggae, while ‘I Want You To Know’ is an absolute funk/noise rock monster, sounding like Steve Albini recording Queens Of The Stone Age jamming on ‘Kashmir’. ‘Soul Scratch’ is a very British take on a very Mauritian form of music called seggae, which combines the African island folk music known as sega with reggae, but imbuing it with an adrenalized urban uptightness. The album concludes with ‘City Thunder’ an elemental, dubbed out and dread take on post rock and disco.
