S'Habituer à l'Obscurité: ‘N om Gustumiñ Deus an Deñvalijenn

Christophe Le Menn, aka Krismenn, is a rapper and musician from Brittany. In keeping with the original spirit of hip-hop, Le Menn touches upon social challenges that he and others encounter in the context of their own lives. S'Habituer à l'Obscurité: ‘N om Gustumiñ Deus an Deñvalijenn (which roughly translates as ‘Getting Used to the Darkness’) is Krismenn's genre-defying debut album. The endangered Breton language, which Le Menn has studied for almost 20 years, takes centre stage throughout. With a delivery reminiscent at times of the Swedish rapper Timbuktu, LeMenn uses hip-hop as a vehicle for expressing his native culture and breathing new life into the Breton language. This is by no means the only way in which S'Habituer à l'Obscurité diverges from your typical hip-hop record. On tracks such as ‘Dont a Reont ’Darre’, rap sits alongside dubstep, blues inflections and distorted vocal samples. In other moments, as with ‘Leusk d'o'ran Didrouz’ (a piece that morphs into sprawling electronica), there's a much greater emphasis on song. With further additions of birdsong and sounds of agricultural machinery, it all makes for an intriguing debut.