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There is a mythical island that exists only in Claude Fontaine’s imagination. It’s somewhere off the coast of France but the trade winds blow a soothing tropical breeze. The inhabitants converse in an alluring mélange of French and Portuguese. The air is fragrant and sweet. The water is the color of Lapis Lazuli. The stone citadels of this invisible city are scarred by time, but its people exist in a velvet eternity.
If you wander at night amidst the starlit cobblestone roads, you might chance upon the official house band of this halcyon offshore republic. A mysterious ensemble fronted by an American girl with a French name singing a romantic collection of spells assembled under the name, La Mer.
With their dulcet fusion of ‘60s French ye-ye pop, slinky Studio One reggae, and liminal Brazilian tropicalia, Claude Fontaine’s songs embody the best kept dreams of a globally connected world. The second album from the Los Angeles artist reflects the dream of creating the soundtrack for this utopia by the sea.
On “Vaqueiro,” the first single from the album out today, Fontaine spins the tale of a gaucho, a hardened man on horseback, a rugged soul who denies love and sweats out his sorrows from the isolation of a chaparral-strewn ranch.
At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Françoise Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock. None of this is a happy accident. For her second opus, Fontaine assembled some of the most gifted musicians of the last five decades. First and foremost is her co-writer and producer, the multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning Lester Mendez, whose resume includes everyone from Grace Jones and Baaba Maal to Shakira and Nelly Furtado.
As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, Tony Chin, foil for the likes of King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Sly & Robbie, appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time. On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer.
Listen to "Vaquiero" and pre-order the album (out Sept. 6th).
"Such a forceful collection of parts woven together that you kind of feel like you can just float on it" NPR
“[Closer] wraps existential concerns of inner peace and connecting with one's surroundings inside of a tense, gentle ascendent ballad.” The FADER
“super chill and kinda takes you on this dreamy journey” BBC
Maria Chiara Argirò’s Closer is an album to get lost in. The rising electronic luminary and classically trained pianist presents a journey of self-exploration, and a manifestation of her profound connection with music. Rooted in an indescribable feeling that compelled her to create, the album transcends boundaries and tranverses the spectrum of electronic music with unparalleled depth and clarity. On the album, Maria says:
“It is about a feeling, a dreamlike feeling in motion, a feeling that we cannot describe, a dream I’m sort of walking through. Emotions/dreams/feelings that sometimes you can just imagine, a dreamlike world where we walk through to get to the core of ourselves a bit more, even if things are completely undefined and blurry. While working on the music there was this strong feeling - at times blurry and at times more defined - of getting, with every single note, closer and closer to the person I want to be. Free. Curious and consequently Aware, Connected and Closer to the people I love. There is so much noise in this world, I think being direct, gentle, light, open and connected is the key.”
Argirò has been a central figure in the UK electronic, jazz and classical worlds since she moved to London from Rome over a decade ago. A skilled pianist since childhood, she’s collaborated with everyone from These New Puritans to Jono McCleery to Jamie Leeming alongside output with Moonfish. Closer comes as the follow up to her stunning electronic jazz-fusion record Forest City, which received widespread critical acclaim across the globe and earned her fanship from Four Tet and Gilles Peterson, with the latter describing her music as “absolutely crazy good”.
The result of this journey, both sonic and personal, can be keenly felt on Closer. While it is definitely not a concept album, the record does mirror the path of inner self-exploration that Argirò has been on. Albeit moving in unpredictable ways, as it traverses the spectrum of electronic music spanning ambient to dance music, while also retaining light touches of jazz with a leaning towards experimental pop via Argirò’s more central and up-front vocals.
Closer sees its release alongside a new official video for album centerpiece “Time”. The live performance was filmed at The Cross London (King's Cross) and was directed by frequent collaborator Raoul Paulet.
Read more about the album on Line of Best Fit
dadá Joãozinho shares the video for "Sem Limitlesssss" from his most recent release tds bem Global. Says dadá Joãozinho about the song/video: “being in São Paulo inspired me to go off my limits, to grow, to know things about myself I couldn’t see. It’s a song about desire really, about transformation. I wanted this song and video to feel like a ritual, lead by this mantra, for breaking boundaries, going beyond what’s been said to be possible, beyond reality. It’s an imagination game, believing through this games we create new worlds.”
For more on the artist, check the most recent Billboard piece.
On Closer, rising electronic luminary and classically trained pianist Maria Chiara Argirò presents a journey of self-exploration, and a manifestation of her profound connection with music. Her new single “Floating” is meant to be listened to with your eyes closed. Maria tells, “While writing ‘Floating’, I was deeply thinking about a mind exploration of the reality/unreality of things, life/subconscious/conscious, the quiet moments vs the noise moments and the dreams vs reality. Floating, blurry images that become reality or mix with the imagination and vice-versa. Lyrically, it’s like a mantra and we end up floating (in the dreams or reality?)”
Rooted in an indescribable feeling that compelled her to create, the album transcends boundaries and tranverses the spectrum of electronic music with unparalleled depth and clarity. On the album, Maria says:
“It is about a feeling, a dreamlike feeling in motion, a feeling that we cannot describe, a dream I’m sort of walking through. Emotions/dreams/feelings that sometimes you can just imagine, a dreamlike world where we walk through to get to the core of ourselves a bit more, even if things are completely undefined and blurry. While working on the music there was this strong feeling - at times blurry and at times more defined - of getting, with every single note, closer and closer to the person I want to be. Free. Curious and consequently Aware, Connected and Closer to the people I love. There is so much noise in this world, I think being direct, gentle, light, open and connected is the key.”