New from London-based eight-piece Kokoroko, “Something’s Going On” (led by Sheila Maurice-Grey) blends Afrobeat, jazz, soul and ’70s psych-leaning funk to create a luminescent and sprawling song. Opening with twinkling synths, guitar and gentle percussion, it becomes a horn-heavy track, punctuated by the calm but powerful chant: “Something’s goin’ on, something’s happening now.” The dreamy, layered song was inspired by “the enforced stillness and unsettling existential crises collectively experienced through this ongoing global pandemic” but provides hope and encourages solidarity for the future. Bassist Duane Atherley says, “Something was going on, and still is, at different levels of life—society, family, close friends and personally.”
Kokoroko: Something’s Going On
