COMPOSERS: Lo’Jo
LABELS: Independent
PERFORMER: Lo’Jo
CATALOGUE NO: IRL 015
Lo’Jo has made surprise into an art form of its own. How do you categorise its music? Open-ended urban folk? It’s acoustic, magpie-like and triumphantly French, from Denis Pean’s hoarse, melodramatic declamation to the flamboyantly precise playing.
The music on the group’s fourth release takes on Arabic, Spanish and Cuban colours by turns, with a touch of Africa about the close-harmonised women’s voices, a guest brass band from Benin and a tango by way of a finale. All this is recorded live, and has the feel of a real event. It shouldn’t work, but it’s unstoppable.