Review: Tambores En Benirras - Alba Ámbar (NuNorthern Soul)

We've been following NuNorthern Soul's exploration of remixes of Tambores En Benirras' 'Ondas Horizontales' and now trois is a magic number as it's the release of third album from Graham Newby, aka DJ Gripper, with a different world with 'Alba Ámbar'!

Last years' trio set of remixes of Tambores En Benirras' 'Ondas Horizontales' (see review HERE, HERE and HERE) were a bit of an eye-opener into the worlds that Newby's contemporaries 'feel' his music but now on his third album, this emence double album transcribes an "electronic, ambient, dub, downtempo and more leftfield territory" that's simple and complex all at the same time.

'Ondas Horizontales' came out three years ago as he's had to adapt to the way he works and produces music after being regisered blind with deteriorating sight loss hence, the electronic 'feel' the music takes on; something you can hear in the title track and 'Bucanero Ácido'.

After that, he finds his feet so to speak with 'No Se Me Pasa' and 'Batalla de Etquetas' which act as the gateway of the album's heart beat of "a glorious celebration of the mystical, magical and life-affirming musical meditation on stretched-out sunrises and the breathtaking beauty of dawn".

Translating to 'Amber Dawn', the 11 tracks create a soundtrack from small screen Dr. Who space walk ('Aquí Me Dejo') to widescreen electronic beach party ('Bossa Nouvieux') where all the tracks find themselves in a 5-10 minute timeframe (hence the double album), all have time to breath and relax in a "a meditative and mesmerising mix of slow-burn aural colours, tactile textures, gradually unfurling chords, and heady melodic motifs."

So much so, you'll keep returning to this album, hearing new things you missed and missing old things you thought you new - a floatscape of sound that finds you rather than you finding it as you discover (if you haven't already), "Newby’s instinctive grasp of mood and texture comes to the fore on the drifting, soft-focus ambient dub head-nod of (‘No Se Me Pasa’), where strummed acoustic guitars, echoing vocal samples and weighty low-end warmth catch the ear, while his history of dusty downtempo beat-making – originally explored on his early 2000s releases for Grand Central Records – informed the dancehall-meets-trip-hop fusion of ‘Batalla De Etiquettas’".

Manchesters's Grand Central Records (founded by Mark Rae) evolved out of hip-hop and covered numerous bases during its peak, something 'El Mar Llama' takes on here a la "gorgeous Balearic nu-disco-meets-classic-IDM shuffle" and other dubby kaleidoscopic gems like 'San Vicente, Despacio'.

And so it continues, as we charge giddily towards 6am Balearic dancefloors on the locked-in hypnotism of ‘Cambio De Plano’ , gets rubbery, bouncy and cheery on the joyous ‘Tenir Bon Cap’, and echoes the slow-build, wide-eyed bliss of the original ambient house movement on ‘Amenecer En Amnesia’ with its 'for whom the bell tolls' underness.

NuNorthern Soul are experts in this arena and you can't argue with their conclusion, "with its epic, head-turning ambient intro, raw electronic bass, effects-laden hand percussion and slow, restless build, this triumphant closing cut signals the moment the sun has well and truly arrived above the horizon. It’s a genuinely stunning conclusion to a soul-stirring set".

RNIB - "every six minutes, someone starts to lose their sight" RNIB | Homepage of the Royal National Institute of Blind People

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER:Alba Ámbar | Tambores En Benirras

Artist: Tambores En Benirras

Title: Alba Ámbar

Release date: 13th November, 2026
Label : NuNorthern Soul
Catalog Number : NUNSTEBAALP
Format:  2XLP Vinyl Digital / Bandcamp