Naâman ADD

Review

Album Review: Naâman - Deep Rockers Back A Yard

06/10/2013

by Valentin Zill

It was in 2010 that the French reggae massive took notice of Naâman, a young singer from Normandy. Just three years after he played his first club shows throughout France, Naâman presents his album debut, called Deep Rockers Back A Yard. Rockers‘ deep in JA indeed, and that is precisely why he went ah Yard to record it.

Naâman mainly draws his inspiration from the classical riddims of the 1970s and 80s and cites Studio One, Black Ark, and King Jammy. Dennis Brown, Junior Murvin, Joe Higgs, Sizzla, Capleton, and Lutan Fyah rank among his favorite vocalists. On top of that, it is the hip hop of the 1990s that inspires him further. The latter can be heard clearly on Skanking Shoes, his 2012 single whose video edition got more than 790,000 views on YouTube so far. Rather surprising for a French artist, Naâman sings in English. No need alors to brush up on those three phrases left from your French classes at school to catch up on the latest reggae trend from the country of Dub Inc. and Danakil.

That is great news, because even some of the big names from Jamaica don‘t always manage to record albums of Deep Rockers Back A Yard‘s quality. In parts, this quality comes from working with Stephen Stewart and Sam Clayton in Harry J‘s studio. Together with them and Fatbabs, the producer of his original mix tape Deep Rockers (2012), Naâman reworked some tunes that had previously been released, and recorded entirely new ones. With a little help of musicians such as Sly Dunbar, Daniel “Axeman” Thompson, and Dalton Browne.

The result are ten very, very solid tracks of modern roots with an urban touch. We find uptempo Lover‘s like House of Love besides groovy, easy-skanking conscious tunes like Badman Beware. Rockers even has the potential to be one of this summer‘s defining tunes with its thick and catchy bassline and happy trumpet fanfares. The album‘s only combination goes by the name of Rebel for Life and is with Cutty Ranks.

The only downside to Deep Rockers Back A Yard is that with ten tunes of an average length of 3:30, it is simply too short. And the one question that lingers now - how in the world will Naâman top the quality of his album debut on a follow-up record?

---

Release details