The live drummer for Canadian electronica outfit Caribou, Brad Weber also moonlights in a solo guise as Coy Haste. His rhythmic proficiency is in splendid evidence across ‘West Plains’, the first single from the ‘Apicultura’ EP, on which he crafts a dynamic electro-funk take on a folk-origin story from the San people of the Kalahari, namely how a partnership between bee and mantis morphed into the first human life.
Words by Nick Mee
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The Afrocentric seam in ‘West Plains’ is reflected in its profusion of indigenous percussive instruments, which romp across Weber’s own exuberant drum fills, giving an already nailed-on floor-filler some extra meat to its beat, while synthesiser swells and offbeat skanks recall elements of 1970s electro-oriented acts such as Nigeria’s William Onyeabor and Ghana’s Basa Basa. But while the delicious groove of ‘West Plains’ is its prime focus, the song’s singular embellishment comes in the graceful addition of some gorgeous choral harmonies extracted from samples of rural folk recordings.
Amid the narrative arc of the ‘Apicultura’ EP – released on 5 February – ‘West Plains’ represents the mantis’s flight from a raging torrent of floodwater, conveyed in the track’s strident, tumbling rhythms. It’s a key act in this instrumental version of an ancient tale, one that has enabled Coy Haste to himself give life to a tasty cultural fragment.