Petite Noir
La Vie Est Belle / Life is Beautiful
Stream to Sept. 10
You've never heard anything quite like Petite Noir's incredible debut album, La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful. It's futuristic, nostalgic, traditional and modern all at once, an impossible feat in anybody else's hands, yet this is the expansive, wide-open heart of Petite Noir's Yannick Ilunga.
Ilunga, who lives in Cape Town, is half-Congolese and half-Angolan. He calls his complex, intoxicating sound "noirwave," explaining that this is a "new African aesthetic," one that sees the positive in dark times.
On "Down," the '80s synth, the back-of-the-club beats, the intricate percussive details are all the perfect frame for the real star: Ilunga's voice. The timbre and texture, how it curls around the words, it's like a velvet cape swallowing up your whole body, comforting and luxurious with just a hint of danger.
"MDR" is one of the most playful tracks, a sexy number that even boasts a nod to Grease. Listen to the girl group-style backing vocals as they coo "You're the one that I want" alongside Ilunga's baritone, and enjoy the slightly disorienting yet hypnotic sense of displacement as the track fearlessly fuses the '50s and '80s with futuristic beats.
Every track could be equally at home on a runway or an afternoon on the beach, a house party or an after-hours club. It's music for everyone and everywhere precisely because of its sense of future: a future where influences coalesce and blend and morph seamlessly, naturally, unrestrained by genre. Ilunga is leading us toward something special, a promised land of some kind, where life really is beautiful. This is a remarkable debut from a thrilling new artist.
Tracklist
1. "Intro Noirwave"
2. "Best"
3. "Freedom"
4. "Seventeen (Stay)"
5. "Just Breathe"
6. "La Vie Est Belle / Life is Beautiful"
7. "MDR"
8. "Colour"
9. "Down"
10. "Inside"
11. "Chess"
Hang out with me on Twitter: @_AndreaWarner
by Andrea Warner via Electronic RSS
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