CLAUDE FONTAINE - Claude Fontaine

Recorded over two separate sessions with different musicians, the debut of this young American artist, now based in London, pairs reggae sounds with bossa nova atmospheres in a mysterious synergy. The two styles divide the album's two sides, released by the enterprising label Innovative Leisure.

Claude Fontaine once dreamed of becoming a jazz singer, but despite her love for Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, and her respectable attempt at the genre's standards, she realized she needed a repertoire better suited to her vocal strengths. The step from there to songwriting was a short one, spent travelling in search of new inspiration. Then, during a stay in London, came the creative spark: stepping into the famous Honest Jon's record shop, Claude discovered Jamaican and Brazilian music.

Torn between these two new passions, she began reaching out to several musicians, some of them famous, who eagerly agreed not only to collaborate but even to play on the debut of this young singer-songwriter.

Recorded between Hollywood and Los Angeles, "Claude Fontaine" boasts musicians of considerable calibre: Airto Moreira (Astrud Gilberto, Miles Davis) and Andre de Santanna (Flora Purim) on the Brazilian side, and guitarist Tony Chinn (Dennis Brown, Althea and Donna), bassist Ronald McQueen (Steel Pulse) and drummer Rock Deadrick (Ziggy Marley) on the reggae side.

Built on a solid sonic structure and inspired, impeccable songwriting, the album unfolds with a naif touch and a lo-fi sound that wraps its ten tracks in a warm, retro haze. At first listen (especially via streaming or download platforms) this choice dulls the overall impact, but it still lets the high quality of the songs and arrangements shine through.

Strange as it may sound, what happens with repeated listens has something almost magical about it: it's like a spell that draws the listener into a sensual, unhealthy vortex, prompting compulsive repeat plays, even from listeners used to very different stylistic languages.

Maybe it's the curious effect of her relaxed, velvety voice set against the pulsing rhythms of reggae; maybe it's the splendid creative frame of songs like "Cry For Another", "Play By Play" and "Hot Tears", or the even more seductive latin-jazz flavour (in the vein of Michael Franks) of "Pretending He Was You", "Footprints In The Sand" and the bittersweet magic of "Our Last Goodbye". Whatever the reason, this is a debut that is hard to ignore, especially against the backdrop of a contemporary and not always varied artistic scene.

These are, after all, ten love songs, not the postcard or pulp-serial kind, but passionate and overwhelming ones, sung with the melancholic detachment of someone afraid of being hurt by the inevitable end of a love affair. And for everyone who lets themselves be won over by the music of Claude Fontaine, it will be a love without end.

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29/02/2020