If you were one of over three million people worldwide who bought St Germain’s last album Tourist back in 2000, you might be wondering what Ludovic Navarre (the French producer behind St Germain) has been up to since creating that luscious melange of jazz, blues and house.
St Germain’s eponymously titled fourth LP sees Navarre shift from Tourist’s nu-jazz leanings to a focus on African music. The record features a range of African singers and musicians playing traditional West African instruments such as the kora and ngoni. African drums, electric guitar, piano and saxophone blend effortlessly with occasional electronic loops and blues vocal samples.
The house vibes are more subdued on this release, but Navarre’s electronic influence is present enough to create categorisation confusion. It could sit comfortably under jazz, blues, world or electronic, but Navarre’s musical direction melds these genres into a delicious aural fusion.
The album’s first track and lead single, Real Blues, mixes a Lightnin’ Hopkins vocal sample with African rhythms, the sublime sounds of the ngoni and kora, and electronic loops. Fans of Tourist are sure to appreciate Family Tree, with its gorgeous piano, delicate percussion and hot sax. How Dare You alternates between African vocals and sampled vocals from Mississippi R.L. Burnside’s Nightmare Blues before integrating a house vibe reminiscent of Tourist’s Rose Rouge.
Mary L. delivers a funkier feel through keys and percussion, while Forget Me Not spotlights superb kora backed by a mellow beat that gradually builds with layers of percussion, subtle keys, and barely-there electric guitar riffs. It’s a smooth, full-bodied wind-down for the final track.
15 years is a long time between releases and St Germain will probably polarise old fans, but gain plenty of new ones too.
BY KAYE BLUM
