Once more, the New Music Friday doesn’t disappoint with albums and EPs all ready for the critique. Here are our reviews for these records full of softness, wiseness and warmth.
ÉCOUTE MA VOIX – MYRIAM BELDI
Music is, now more than ever, our passport to magnificent foreign lands. We’re following Myriam Beldi and her golden voice, in every language she chooses to sing us, through the streets of Alger and Paris. With the oud, the mandola or the banjo, the singer-composer shows her savoir-faire and warms our hearts. Écoute ma voix is a simple message but efficient and quickly, we’re hypnotised by the record which presents the essence of traditional Algerian music as well as classic french variety, with smart touches of rock and reggae. Virtuoso, Myriam Beldi has conquered us.
•••
LE RAYON VERT – LEWIS EVANS
Le Rayon Vert has a tricky name. Sang in Shakespeare’s language by British Lewis Evans, collaborating with Herman Dune, this French-titled EP brings freshness, which reminds us how cold it can be outside this January. Guitars forwards, the violins invite themselves and Evans’ voice is like containing itself. We’re told pretty dark stories (Cocaine), but urban ones too (King of the Jingle), within a folk atmosphere, rather modern, that goes to its roots, tradition and vintage vibes. The imagery of an old pub on the British coast pleases us.
•••
NOT WHAT I EXPECTED TO HOPE FOR – BARTON HARTSHORN
Barton Hartshorn talks to the child he has been, anxious about a future that was never to come, a future which is our present and that no one could have predicted with great detail. If Not What I Expected To Hope For has been written during Hartshorn’s US tour in 2019, the record has something of the now, and something reassuring too. The first track, Listen For A Change invites us to listen carefully, peacefully. Other stories, of jealousy, tragedy, hope, past and future are gathering to create this really nice rock-folk-a-touch-80s opus. A very nice listen.
Now Playing :
Kifech Rah – Myriam Beldi
King of the Jingle – Lewis Evans
Listen For A Change – Barton Hartshorn
You can find Unis Son on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify.
Also, remember: sharing is support!
