On February 28, Mdou Moctar will release Tears of Injustice, the acoustic version of Funeral for Justice. Sharing new single ‘Funeral for Justice (Injustice Version)’, out now. The song – the title track of Funeral for Justice and something of a thematic lynchpin for the band’s last year of work – has been dramatically reshaped for Tears. The original’s tight arrangement and full-blast guitar riff have been set aside in favour of an arrangement that feels loose, sprawling, and improvisational.
The album owes its existence to a national catastrophe. In July of 2023, Mdou Moctar was on tour in the United States when the president of Niger was deposed in a coup. Band members Mdou Moctar, Ahmoudou Madassane, and Souleymane Ibrahim were left unable to return home to their families. They decided to seize the opportunity to record a companion to Funeral for Justice, one that reflected the newer and graver circumstances at home. Two days after the tour wrapped in New York City, the quartet began tracking Tears of Injustice at Brooklyn’s Bunker Studio with engineer Seth Manchester.
Listen / purchase ‘Funeral for Justice (Injustice Version)’ here.
Pre-order / pre-save Tears of Injustice here.