Simido

Siltane, the explosive debut solo album by the singer Moonlight Benjamin, was a Top of the World in #141 and the follow-up thunders with a similar volcanic intensity. She is Haitian-born but has been resident in France for almost 20 years, and although there's not a great deal that's overtly Haitian in her music apart from the thundering drums, a voodoo spirit drives her music as she sings in Creole and most of her songs address the plight of the land of her birth. Backed by a four-piece French band, her brooding blues-rock owes much to the rawness of the likes of Alabama Shakes and the Black Keys.

Above the sonic maelstrom, her voice booms with an almost scary power, particularly on the title-track and on the closer ‘Kafou’, named after a spirit in the voodoo pantheon and which she turns into a heartfelt tribute to the proudly rebellious spirit of Haitian culture. If the overall mood is somewhat bludgeoning, she shows she is capable of greater subtlety on ‘Pasay’, a prayer to the spirits, asking them to help the Haitian people in their hour of need.