If you want to understand what happens when the rhythmic urgency of Afrobeat meets the velvety depth of soul, listen to Tuff Times Never Last, the latest chapter in Kokoroko’s musical journey. With this album, the London collective further shapes its sound, leaning toward more intimate and fluid vocal territories. Nothing of the collective groove that brought them to international attention is lost, but a new kind of energy has emerged – deeper, more soulful, and at times, more spiritual. That energy is not only aesthetic but also a lens through which they reinterpret their roots. There’s a certain kind of light that only London can provide – the one filtering through Brixton’s houses at sunset, fading among the voices of the market and a distant radio bass line playing Tony Allen. It’s in that light that Kokoroko move, children of both the African diaspora and London’s cultural melting pot. […]