Joseph Ray, a GRAMMY winner and founding member of the pioneering platinum-selling electronic music trio, NERO, had never heard of Lakou when he arrived in Haiti in 2015, having volunteered to teach a course at Haiti’s only music production and audio engineering school, the Artist's Institute. This spirit of Haiti’s rich musical history underpins Lakou Mizik today a multi-generational genre-blending ensemble that plays traditional Haitian music with a punk energy and a deep sense of their heritage. Lakou’s figurehead, Sanba Zao, one of only ten original Sanba poets left, played a central role in Haiti’s Rasin (roots) movement of the 1980s, which sought to re-imagine traditional Haitian Vodou music through radical experimentation with modern instruments. The nine piece band, formed in 2010, is emblematic of the melting pot that is Haiti’s musical culture. Since its inception Lakou Mizik has sought to re-define people’s conceptions of Haiti through its music. Leave the Bones paints a musical portrait, a fresh glimpse of an oft misrepresented country, that through Vodou chants, chest-pounding Rara dance tunes and contemporary protest songs, conveys the listener to Haiti’s spiritual heart, a place that remains a compelling mystery for foreigners and a source of pride for every Haitian. Culture is what defines the country - its drums and Vaksins (traditional horns) are symbols of freedom and pride, liberty and struggle, and represent the escapist joy of dancing. But its history is rich, its people proud and defiant, and nowhere is that more evident than in its music. “Haiti'' is a word that conjures up a lot of images, it is a country judged by many, most of whom have never set foot on its shores. As she says in the album notes: “My only wish is to live and offer my experience of time and beauty.Albums often try to evoke a time and place, few manage to do that with such startling effect as the unlikely collaboration, Leave the Bones, between the multi-generational Haitian band Lakou Mizik, and Grammy-winning electronic music artist Joseph Ray. The album draws on her experience of having to have a life-saving emergency mastectomy, and the healing that followed. The cathartic “Stone Or Lavender” looks to nature for restful assistance: “Show her clover and wildflowers when the soul is tired and needing,” Saalfield sings. The bassline on “Red Room” feels like massage, summoning the warmth of being at home in one’s safe space (or as Saalfield describes it, “inside a flower”). The spirited “Rose Water” is an ode to a purifying tonic that’s been around since ancient times. Sprinkled throughout the project are reminders to seek healing in the elements. Grammy-nominated Melbourne soul group Hiatus Kaiyote returned this year with Mood Valiant, an album that showcased their ever-shifting beats and acoustics surrounding Nai Palm Saalfield’s spellbinding vocals. By “Speck of Dust,” she arrives at contentment, finding worry unnecessary, and realizing that she’s a small fragment of something bigger. On “I Feel Something,” in a haunting vibrato, she seeks peace, feeling too accustomed to being numb. By “YoYo,” she is imagining a world where her endless toil is replaced by communal living: I’m gonna run away/ And build a tiny house/ It will be rent free/ I’ll build a community/ We’ll make our own clothes,” she sings. Her wandering begins on “Breathe,” where she toggles between the societal pressure to grind and her natural desire to rest: “I feel pressure/ That I put on myself/ Self-imposed pressure/ Don’t come from no one else,” she concludes. As the album goes on, May progress from being an over-thinker to being an acceptor of the unknown. UK singer Ego Ella May’s Fieldnotes EP unfolds elegantly over futuristic beats. Pre-order buy pre-order buy you own this wishlist in wishlist go to album go to track go to album go to track
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