Mounaiki

Carol van Dyck's slippery vocals drive this psychedelic mesh of Delta blues, funk, 1990s dance and world influences; her voice gliding as effortlessly over bluesy licks as across Indian ornamentation. She is joined by guitar, a handful of other instruments from around the globe and rather a lot of electronic sounds and beats. Heavy use of reverb, delay and other effects creates a heady mix that spins and becomes trance-like on tracks like ‘Mounaiki’. Sometimes, however, the intoxication subsides and gives way to more spacious numbers such as ‘For a Change’, aiding the narrative printed in the album's sleeve.

More than just the band's name ‘My Baby’ is apparently a central character in the group's songwriting; described as a kind of ‘phantom muse’ she is a ‘girl in the 70s dreaming about being a flapper girl from the 20s.’ The album presents her having an evening of adventures in places as disparate as nightclubs and the underwater realm. This concept, while obscure, does help in navigating an album that at times can seem disorientating, with its multilayered shamanistic echoes and slightly tokenistic elements. Nevertheless, this is well-produced and lavish music.