A collaboration between Foals’ Yannis Philippakis and the late, legendary drummer Tony Allen (best known for his work with Fela Kuti). Yannis & The Yaw is a creative hybrid between two different musicians of vastly different backgrounds and ages that makes a virtue of their disparate qualities. Their story is just as intriguing, with Tony first giving Yannis a subdued welcome to the studio before their sessions provided the roots for their friendship to flourish. And when Tony passed in 2020, aged 79, Yannis did all he could to honor his friend.

The result is the upcoming Lagos Paris London EP which will be released on August 30 via Transgressive. Yannis now heightens expectations for its release by unveiling the project’s second single, “Under The Strikes”.

“Under The Strikes” is arguably the most fully realized example of what Yannis had anticipated from the collaboration. A vibrant explosion of highlife rhythm and rousing brass, it constantly evolves courtesy of Tony’s loose yet always exuberant beats – and then it goes wilder still, with a crescendo of brass introducing a beautifully dreamlike coda. It’s also a track which sparkles with the free-wheeling energy of a late night session. Tony asserted that one-take for his drum parts was all he needed, with Yannis later finessing the track around his performance.

Yannis says, “”Under The Strikes” was inspired by walking to the studio during Paris’s refuse strikes, where trash was piled three stories high. I was fascinated by the idea that we were born into the greatest period of history and yet, things were disintegrating at the same time: we were finding the positives were mirrored by new lows and social disintegration. The track follows previous single “Walk Through Fire.”

So that’s the backdrop but there’s also a kind of coda at the end, a sense of farewell almost, which felt really poignant as it was the last thing we would work on of Tony’s.”

Yannis & The Yaw
Lagos Paris London EP
Tracklisting

1. Walk Through Fire
2. Rain Can’t Reach Us
3. Night Green, Heavy Love
4. Under The Strikes
5. Clementine

Pre-order Lagos Paris London HERE