iViV

When you listen closely to Oriane Lacaille’s music, you inveitably think of Leyla McCalla. The Creole quality of Lacaille’s songs makes it an obvious connection, only to be confirmed when we find McCalla herself as a guest star on ‘iViV’, the title-track of this solo debut. Daughter to accordionist René Lacaille, a legend among La Réunion musicians, taking the stage alongside her father as soon as she was 13, Lacaille took her time to figure out who she is artistically, stuck between the Creole culture she was brought up with and the Metropolitan France where she’s always lived.

After her French-Creole experiences with duos Titi Zaro and Bonbon Vodou, Lacaille releases this wonderful and mature work. Writing songs on ukulele or takamba (also called aouicha, a Gnawa guitar that made its way to La Réunion), she goes through Creole pop and jazzy tunes, African blues and all sorts of references with incredible taste and a sensuous voice, just as enthralling when she delivers spoken word or surrenders to a poppier melody. ‘Je Suis la Fleur Qui ne Poussera Jamais’ and ‘L’Unique Mot’ are gorgeous examples of Creole going jazz or blues, ‘Li Bat’ is anchored in a Malian guitar and builds up on the haunting duet with Piers Faccini, ‘Aouicha Dancefloor’, a hypnotising track that opens the doors to Gnawa.

An extraordinary debut that leaves us begging for more.