Today I'm easing into my groove with the velvet croon of LA singer and songwriter, Claude Fontaine. Her debut LP it the direct result of a foggy London stroll a few years back where she stumbled upon Honest Jon’s Record store. The fated encounter led to the excavation of a deep, previously unacknowledged love of classic reggae, dub, and Brazilian music. After interrogating Honest Jon’s employees for a few days on the history and major players of her newly adopted musical obsession, Fontaine made it her mission to produce a record with the living legends who had wooed her heart. Through an extensive series of emails, voicemails, and care-packages sent between her, globe-trotting photographers and other vagabonds, she was able to pinpoint the whereabouts of Tony Chin and others, and mailed them her demos with a request to collaborate. Surprisingly, all of those she solicited said yes, and in just two sessions, she recorded the entirety of her debut LP with guitarists Chin, drummer Airto Moreira, bassist Ronnie McQueen of Steel Pulse and others lending her their various and inimitable talents. The results are something akin to Novella Vague produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry. Fontaine’s soft French-inflected jazz-croon drifts over swiftly moving caravans of South American fusion. Give a listen to the jaunty, twisting melody and syncopated skip of the magnetic “Cry for Another” and try to resist its charm. Fountain’s debut is one of those things that you never knew you needed in your life until it lands square in your lap.
Grab a copy of Claude Fontaine's debut from Innovative Leisure Records here.
