As was just announced, Amadou & Mariam’s new album, Welcome to Mali, will be released in the US this March. It was released last month in the UK to great critical acclaim, taking the top spot on Metacritic.com's aggregator as the year's best-reviewed album.

Upon the record's release, The Observer named it the CD of the Week, with Kitty Empire describing it as "consistently banging; busily upbeat and lushly-produced."

Observer Music Monthly gives the album a perfect five stars. Even with the duo's fascinating lifestory together, writes Ben Thompson, "it is the spindly irresistibility of their music that is the most important thing about them." He describes their appeal this way:

Both the powerhouse blues-rock guitar of Amadou Bagayoko and the sweetly stentorian voice of Mariam Doumbia contain severity as well as gentleness. The potent personal chemistry through which these impulses are resolved places the Malians firmly in the lineage of such charismatic outriders of yin/yang balance as the Carpenters, Sonic Youth and the White Stripes.

The new release follows the pair's 2005 breakthrough album Dimanche à Bamako, and, says Thompson, "the great thing about this follow-up is the way it builds on that foundation without lapsing into self-consciousness. Amadou & Mariam glide smoothly through gear changes that would strip the teeth of a less well-tuned musical motor ..."

The reviewer predicts that the album "will be appreciated by an audience of millions: not as 'world music', but as the product of an authentically global pop phenomenon."

Read the five-star review at guardian.co.uk.

Also on the site is Robin Denselow's four-star review for The Guardian, in which he credits the duo with having "succeeded in recording another infectiously rousing set," one on which "their Africa-pop crossover success continues."

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Uncut magazine gives Welcome to Mali another perfect five stars, with reviewer John Lewis asserting:

[I]n a world where African artists are often expected to conform to nebulous tropes of “authenticity” and “rootsiness,” their music is thrillingly off-message, distinctly African but never particularly alien to ears raised on Western rock music.

Even with the high level of artistry throughout their catalog, Lewis sees Welcome to Mali as "an upgrade from previous albums." He credits Amadou's guitar playing as a key component to their music, exclaiming his "slithering, grinding guitar riffs sound dark and spiky [as] the missing link between Ali Farka Touré and Steve Cropper," of Booker T. & the M.G.s fame.

Lewis cites as the album's best track Amadou's atypical English-language love song to Mariam, "I Follow You," calling it "one of the most beautifully and passionate love-letters you’re likely to hear."

Read the review, along with a brief interview with Amadou, at uncut.co.uk.

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Pitchfork, generally sparing in its numbered rating system, gives Welcome to Mali an impressive 8.4. Reviewer Joe Tangari describes their previous record as "a richly deserved arrival that retained the spirit of their music with new beats and sounds ..." and calls producer Damon Albarn's contribution to the new album "one of the best things he's been involved in this decade."

Noting Amadou's guitar work, Tangari points out that "close listening reveals impressive stylistic dexterity as he moves from simple strumming to fluid melodic playing to staccato rhythmic patterns inspired by the Malian ngoni, a cousin of the guitar."

He concludes:

"Inevitable" is a pretty good word for the stardom of Amadou & Mariam. People this amazingly talented and open to new sounds and ideas rarely remain obscure, especially after so many years honing their craft and building their catalog ... This album is an affirmation of global connectivity and an emerging global culture that transcends and repurposes tradition as it sees fit—the sound of Mali merging with the world at large.

Read the full review at pitchforkmedia.com.

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In the News gives the album a 9 out of 10, with James Cooper stating: "From the opening beats of the Damian Alban produced opener Sabali, Welcome to Mali is a record that subverts what you expect from an 'African' album. Throughout, the songs are gloriously popy and genuinely amazing."

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Ireland's Entertainment.ie gives it four stars as well, insisting: "If there's one world music album you buy before the year's end, make it Welcome to Mali."

On the record, writes reviewer Lauren Murphy, "the duo stay true to their African roots, only occasionally allowing bursts of different styles to flash through their songs like neon streaks." She describes it as "inherently joyful from start to finish."

Murphy calls the Albarn track "glorious ... one of the dreamiest, fuzziest three minutes of funky lullaby pop you'll have heard in ages."

Read more at entertainment.ie.