Faygo (the phonetic notation of "Fa a-e go?", Sranantongo for "How are you?") is a six-piece band from the Breton town of Rennes drawing inspiration from the work of American band Groundation and the Jamaican veterans of The Gladiators, and with 'Together' are presenting their second album.
As is often the case with French bands opting for singing in English, we had some trouble with the accents of vocalists Romain 'Mister Roots' Macé and Sébastien 'See Jay' Gamarde, but thanks to an excellent horn section (Baptiste 'Hook' Harzo - trombone, Arnaud 'Nano' Benoit - tenor saxophone, Santiago Marti - alto saxophone and Louri Derrien - trumpet), musically speaking, 'Together' is beyond reproach.
Faygo summarize the title of the album as: "Together for the next adventure, together to support each other, together to keep the band's energy at its highest", but at the same time refer to the socially inspired lyrics on 'Together': "The lyrics touch upon social themes that affect us all, like food waste, modern slavery, indifference, media speculation on insecurity, immigration and the absurdity of our consumer society, but they also evoke nature, love and living together, a subject that is very dear to the members of Faygo.".
For songs like 'Long Way To Zion' and 'No More Slavery', Faygo respectively invited Mystic Loïc (front man with Mystical Faya) and Judean Kong (MC with Thai (!) sound system Jonathan & Calvin). The band concludes with 4 excellent dubs. Our personal favorites from the track list: the jazzy 'Praise Jah' and 'Be Yourself', in which the influences of Groundation are clearly audible, the more up-tempo 'No More Slavery', the duet with Judean Kong, and 'Sing It Together', a song that is taken to another level by the wonderful backing vocals of Marion Dahan, Céline Dahan and Stellis Groseil. Finally, the excellent cover design is the work of Rennes-based English graphic designer Sarah Kay.