Paul St. Hilaire - Unspecified (False Tuned/Indigo)

Er bleek al een Tikiman te bestaan, ergens in Oceanië (!), en de naam was dus al "bezet". Tikiman kenden we vooral van de beat and dub scene inna Germany. Denk maar aan de samenwerkingen eind jaren negentig met Rhythm & Sound, Stereotyp enzovoort. Inna Belgium Tikiman is really into JMX-JMA, de muzikale zoektocht van Jean Marie Aerts, de all rounder in de Belgische scene. Releases: 'Tikisong', 'Parbleu' en dit jaar nog '1.2.AB'. JMX en Paul St.Hilaire waren in 2003 ook te zien op enkele festivals.

Anyway, St. Hilaire starts with 'One After One', a jazzy and dubby song with the man's beautiful voice in a star role. Just listen to him saying 'Tribulation' (in reverb) . The second song shows us that St Hilaire has more to offer then the stuff we can hear on the compilations. This is a real good reggae-song. Society is a favourite of Jah Shakespeares but none of mine. Too nice and easy. Same spirit in the next one Picking Up My Girl which is nice and easy when driving a car but gets boring when you listen better. Mini Miney Mi really is the low point of this CD.

But then is gets better. The beautiful ballad So Sure is very jazzy and bluesy but still a strong reggae song with a good and very interesting piano. Road turns it up just a little bit faster. Quite heavenly is Custody, which reminds me of Tikiman's Berlin connection. In the ganja song Senza St Hilaire's voice sounds pure and beautiful. Sometimes it's like his words become a painting. Feel natty, smell the lamsbread . If you don't smell it, just smoke it. Next song Drifting again is very good. The last one Changerine sounds a bit predictable but still this is a beautiful ending of a really interesting CD. (JoJo)