One evening in 2004, Yann Tambour stumbled across a Malian music concert. He was captivated by the kora, a Mandinka lute-bridge-harp whose tones and harmonies and the “almost medicinal quality of the sound” entranced him. Nothing could have prepared him for this ancestral instrument loved by African storytellers. Since 2001, he had been performing as Encre, a beautiful (and somewhat melancholy) project that brought an organic approach back to “electronic” music. This moment marked a change in direction for the French artist, who went back to the starting block with the classical guitar and rediscovered his love of materials and warm acoustic sounds. He jumped ship, changing his name to Thee, Stranded Horse, and then Stranded Horse, initially with the support of noted kora player Ballaké Sissoko. There was no attempt to spice things up in this change of course; it was simply the next step on the journey of a developing singer and instrumentalist, who saw the opportunity presented by the kora to take even more of a backseat behind the music. “Playing the kora takes humility. It is an instrument that requires much more sacrifice than demonstrative prowess.” Stranded Horse’s latest offering is called Luxe, a collection of songs stripped of their original context, in a mix of French and English. With their rolling sounds, meanings and melodic loops, free-verse poems seem to echo the sea’s rhythmic chant and blend the strengths and weaknesses of British folk, chanson de geste epic poems and West African traditions. This musical experiment is not about trying everything to surprise and subvert, but about single-mindedly freeing ourselves from other places and periods with new perspectives, broadened by the outlook of a man who prefers to contemplate the world than his own reflection. The song Refondre les hémisphères asks us to “grasp the light” – which perfectly describes the sensitive atmosphere created at each Stranded Horse concert.