We Belong

Sinkane: “How Sweet Is Your Love” (KUTX Live at Scholz Garten)

We’re still recovering from the flood of foreign artists that turned our fair city (and Scholz Garten) into an international exhibition last week. And if that worldwide melting pot of genres is best embodied by any SXSW 2024 performer, multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab definitely makes the short list.

Born in London, Gallab spent a chunk of his childhood in Sudan and the remaining rearing in Ohio. The Buckeye State’s rich punk culture rubbed off on Gallab, whose multi-faceted talents and one-of-a-kind musical perspective led to session work with the likes of Caribou, of Montreal, and Yeasayer. Through his solo focus Sinkane, Gallab was able to refine his kitchen sink of sounds, but a dozen years down the line from their debut record MARS, we haven’t heard a lot of new studio stuff from them on this side of the pandemic.

Well, with the release of Sinkane’s eighth LP We Belong on April 5th, we know exactly what we’ll be sinkin’ our teeth into next month. And that cross-genre sense of acceptance was strong when Sinkane wrapped up our the morning’s live lineup last Friday at Scholz Garten. A shining specimen of modern gospel soul spiced up with that idiosyncratic Sinkane twist, the new album’s second installment, “How Sweet Is Your Love” was a solid standout of their live set. Oh, how sweet it was…