Kwashibu Area Band // Love Warrior’s Anthem

Few records in recent memory move with such unhurried conviction. Love Warrior’s Anthem, the new LP from Kwashibu Area Band, drifts like incense smoke through the room—earthy, elemental, and dub-soaked in all the right places. Built on trance-inducing grooves, it leans into repetition not as a crutch, but as an entry point into something deeper. These are meditations you can move to, where repetition becomes revelation.

Emerging from their celebrated work backing Highlife legend Pat Thomas, the band charts a new path here—preserving the core spirit of Ghanaian Highlife while reimagining it through a global lens. There’s a deep jazz influence pulsing through these tracks, flecked with the spatial awareness of dub and the romantic undercurrent of roots reggae. It’s Highlife turned inward—exploratory, expansive, and emotionally grounded.

The opener “Mpaebo Mu Asomdwee” sets the tone with locked-in drums and reverb-laced horns, like a Fela-side dubbed out at 4am. “Nkwanta Bisa (At The Junction)” floats on a warm, circular bassline and gentle guitar motif, while “M’akoma Nnwom” stands tall as the album’s centerpiece—rooted in ritual but open to the cosmos. Instrumental storytelling is the mode throughout, shifting from danceable polyrhythms to ambient drift without ever losing the thread. The sound is versatile, but the vibe is unwavering.

Call it a love letter to Highlife’s future—romantic, heady, and deeply listenable. It’s the kind of record that practically demands a sunrise or a smoke break. Music for watchers of clouds, early morning selectors, and anyone who believes groove is a portal.