27 Oct 2015

St Germain by St Germain

From The Sampler, 7:35 pm on 27 October 2015
St Germain aka Ludovic Navarre

St Germain aka Ludovic Navarre Photo: Benoit Peverelli

Jim Pinckney welcomes the long awaited return of Parisian producer St Germain.

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Following up an album that sold over 4 million copies, and was played to within an inch of its life in cafes and hairdressers from here to Timbuktoo is never going to be easy, and for Ludovic Navarre who works as St Germain, it’s taken 15 years.  While it’s not The Tourist 2, and Navarre has spoken at length about being determined not to trot out that formula, his self-titled third album it is no radical departure either. Recorded over the last six years, there may be a lot more West African flavour in there, with a number of Malian musicians heavily featured but the St Germain sound, and feel, remains at the core, unchanged.  For a record that had such a long process, the results do predominantly sound remarkably fresh, and it holds its own amongst the seemingly endless stream of name artists who are delving deeper into African music, and collaborations. 

Songs played: Sittin' Here, Family Tree, Real Blues, How Dare You, Hanky Panky, Mary L, Voila

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