Claude Fontaine is returning two gorgeous new songs titled “Love The Way You Love” & Lover’s Vow.” “Love the Way You Love” is a prayer for an ardor then unrealized, but later fulfilled – a levitating hymn of golden sand and coral blue waters, heartache with only one antidote. Fontaine tells us “The enduring love songs of artists such as Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, and Susan Cadogan inspired “Love The Way You Love”. At once prayer, myth and reverie. A mirage of love, embedded in the marble of an ancient square, floating on a shimmering sea.”

On Lover’s Vow she explains “Lover’s Vow” is a mantra, an ode to a boundless love and devotion. Paradiso, awash in sacred promises. A terracotta poem.”

As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, Tony Chin, foil for the likes of King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Sly & Robbie, appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time. On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer.

La Mer is a vulnerable work that taps into a profound wellspring of imagination, unbeholden to trends or popular whim. If it were an old relic, it might be that record collector’s lucky hidden treasure, that dusty gem that was waiting to be discovered in an attic. But this is a new moment that you can discover now, and thankfully so – its a romantic message in a bottle, one that, when opened and unraveled opens you up to a new realm of possibilities and wonder. Something that allows you to close your eyes and effortlessly time travel through the past, present, and future. A trip to the pristine island of the mind, but one made immaculately real by the genuine love and care of its creators.

Photo Courtesy: Estevan Oriol