Montreal’s Marie-Hélène L. Delorme, aka FOXTROTT, will release the first in a series of EPs on June 8th via One Little Indian Records. The first instalment in the series, Meditations I sees the inimitable producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist return to form, with rich, off-centre sounds, earthy beats and shimmering percussions.
Meditations I is like the opening of a window after a long winter when a warm and perfumed breeze comes in. Like Spring, it has a sense of renewal, excitement, expectation and warmth.
On Intuition, the opener to Meditations I, Delorme invites a higher force to help her let go of everything she’s held onto as protection. “My insecurities, fears, hesitations, the roles I’ve taken on in life, what I thought I should be doing to be worthwhile – it was about letting go of all of that.
“Wait is a movement forward towards a brighter place, an urgency to follow the tingling feeling one gets when something or someone rings true to them, calls them. It’s a commitment to make oneself available to this renewal, and being willing to leave things behind by doing so. It’s a feeling of love so strong that one cannot ignore it or deny it. Musically, it is a warm pulse, a grounded but expansive energy. It’s drums and bass that pull you forward by your stomach, and shimmering synths and percussions that tickle you in this march forward, like the feeling of a new love. Vocally, it is intimate and upfront, with no “vocal makeup”, like the voice of a loved one murmuring in your ear…”
Since unveiling the FOXTROTT moniker to the world with the EP Shields (2012) and her Polaris Prize-nominated debut A Taller Us (2015), her beefy bass lines, captivating melodies and lyrical candour have taken her to New York, London, Berlin and beyond
The first time I heard the solemn opening bars of "Procession," I knew Childqueen was unlike any music I'd heard before. Kadhja Bonet infuses beautiful, slow funk and soul sounds with an almost druidic, Enya-like sense of mystery, with lyrical themes that range from gestures toward unspoken interpersonal truths to the ancient secrets of the forest. For me the stand-out track is "Delphine," an aching, scintillating ballad that I would currently rank as my favorite love song ever. Dominique Cyprès