Lo’Jo

Cinema El Mundo (World Village, 2012)

Lo’Jo’s Cinema El Mundo is in need of an elegant chaise lounge so that she may gaze on you with a seductive eyes and smile that knowing smile before tweaking your nose and then blackening your eye. Steeped in Gallic potency and flashes of atmospheric callings from across the globe, Cinema El Mundo is all about imagining.

Set for release on October 9th on the World Village label, Cinema El Mundo is the celebration of Lo’Jo’s tenth recording and thirteen years of collaboration for founding members singer and keyboardist Denis Pean and violinist and kora player Richard Borreau. Lo’Jo’s previous recordings include Au Cabaret Sauvage, Cosmophono, Mojo Radio and Boheme De Cristal.

Intent and content with low profile in the music business, Mr. Pean puts Lo’Jo’s musical and professional philosophy this way, “To live on the margins is just a way of remaining true to oneself. There was a time when it seemed as if it was very hard to exist far from Paris. right now it only seems like an immense advantage.”

Drawing on a wealth of musical friends, touring and traveling, Lo’Jo takes the listener on a labyrinthine journey jam packed with dashes of poetry, jazz, African spice, South American soulfulness, Middle Eastern mystery and Asian mysticism against a decidedly French ardor. Joining regular Lo’Jo members bassist and double bassist Kham Meslien, drummer Baptiste Brondy, backing singers The Nid El Mourid sisters Yamina and Nadia, Cinema El Mundo possesses an impressive gallery of guest artists like Menwar, Gan Guo, Andra Kouyate, Vincent Segal, Stephane Coutable, Ibrahim and Eyadou from Tinariwen, Niaz Diasamidze and Robert Wyatt.

Delving into a fantastical musical landscape, Lo’Jo flies in the face of convention and creates a sound that envelopes, seduces and cradles the listener with a stunning kaleidoscope of tracks that comes across as wholly organic. It’s easy to fall prey to Mr. Pean’s silky vocals or Mr. Borreau’s achingly lovely violin lines against the wealth of musical talent on Cinema El Mundo. Fans should pay close attention of tracks like the hypnotic revolving piano lines of “Tout Est Fragile,” the heady sound of “Deux Batons,” the rich Middle Eastern flavor of “Au Temp Qui Passe” and title track “Cinema El Mundo.” Rich wonders are found on the likes of “Lila,” the sharply elegant “Comete Algebrique” and bold mix on “African Dub Crossing the Fantoms of an Opera.”

Ah, there is only one thing to do with Cinema El Mundo. Lie back, turn up the volume and let her have her way with you.