Rating: NNNN
You have to hand it to Arish Ahmad “King” Khan. Years of personal tragedy, spiritual crises, mental illness and political strife (see Q&A, above) could have caused him to quit. Instead he used it all to sharpen his perspective and arm himself with a whole new arsenal of material to attack with funk and soothe with soul. Idle No More is a refined version of the Shrines, sure, but only insofar as you can call a nine-piece band with layers of wah-wah guitar, strings and horns refined.
Inspired by revolutionary protest soul music that arose during the civil rights era, Idle No More (named after the Canadian indigenous rights movement) smoothes out some of the bawdier aspects of the Shrines’ former garage-psych without losing the fundamental humour or good vibes. It’s a more introspective, political and mature sound, but no less fun. King Khan still wails with the best of them, like a crazed James Brown fed on decades of punk and garage rock.
Top track: Born To Die
