2016 – Funky Joint
By Phillip Smith; Mar 13, 2016
Montreal guitarist and singer-songwriter Cécile Doo-Kingué having hooked me with last year’s Anybody
Listening Part 1 : Monologues, has totally reeled me in with her latest
release, Anybody Listening Part 2 :
Dialogues. Keeping her music on the
edge of political and social awareness, Doo-Kingué
progresses from the raw and acoustic direction of Monologues by adding more production and electricity, and it sounds
terrific. Joining the six new tracks on
this twelve track album, are five re-recorded versions of her most outstanding
tracks from Monologues : “Anybody
Listening”, “Little Bit”, “Six Letters”, “Animal Kingdom”, and “Bloodstained
Vodka”. These are tracks I was really
drawn to in their original acoustic versions, but I love these new recordings even
more.
Besides being such a prolific
songwriter, Doo-Kingué is quite the
guitar master as well. It’s so fun to hear her let loose at the end of “Sunshine
Lady”, which by the way features the lovely vocals of Milika Tirolien. I dig the
swampy slide which kick starts the upbeat bluesy gem “Riot & Revolution”.
This song gets the blood pumping through the veins and the fists pumping in the
air. “Sweet Talkin’ Devil” is quite a
sweet surprise too. Doo-Kingué slays
this magnificent southern-style rocker about temptation. For a fearless closer,
Doo-Kingué tears it up on her killer
cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic
Depression”.
I have no idea what direction
Doo-Kingué will take us in on Anybody Listening Part 3, but I’m
already on-board, and looking forward to it.
