The Lima Limo Ceremony’ is the first release on Hejira’s Lima Limo Records. The EP is centred around the group’s visit to Ethiopia in early 2016, which was somewhat of a spiritual homecoming for singer and bass player Rahel who had not visited Ethiopia since her late father was buried there in 2012. In honour of her father, Rahel travelled the breadth of the country for a month, trying to learn more about her heritage and making deeper connections with distant relatives. Hejira’s Sam Beste and Alex Reeve joined Rahel in Addis Ababa at the end of her trip and the group spent 10 intense days together exploring the city, meeting family, checking out live music, and writing new material. Upon their return to London the band entered into a prolific phase of creativity, fleshing out skeletal ideas that they had begun in Ethiopia, as well as writing new music from scratch as a means of digesting what they had experienced. The resulting piece of work is perhaps Hejira’s most audacious release so far: a head-spinning collection of field recordings, hissy beats constructed from sampled Ethiopian cassettes, all encased within a refreshing home grown production aesthetic.
Written, recorded and produced by Hejira at The Arboretum and The House of Dreams.