'Astronote Rainbow' by LaNote

'Astronote Rainbow' serves as the new album release from Caroline "LaNote" Marks whose new project finds its home on the brilliant French indie-label, A Night on Canopy.

Already riding high from the recent collaborative project from vocalist Régine Lanoir and DJ/producer A Cat Called Fritz under the JATOBA moniker, Canopy score another big win with LaNote who follows up with her first full-length project since 'The Nola Clarks Xprmt' in 2023.

Clarks seems to relish the ability to consistently steer her music in a variety of directions - from the hip-hop soul backdrop of the As Valet-produced 'Rebirth' to the eclectic beat-tape soundscape of the aforementioned 'The Nola Clarks Xprmt', each outing seems to find a venerably comfortable and poised Clarks taking ownership of the space around her.  And as in past projects, that ownership can find LaNote elegantly singing over sublime neo-soul-esque production or rapping over golden era boom-bap-styled beats... it's LaNote's world and we're just lucky to be living in it.

As a member of the Parisian quartet Electric Conversation - alongside As Valet, Oz and Gus La Temp - Clarks benefitted greatly from the collaborative element and the projects released through Futuristica Music - 'Communication' (2007) and 'Electric Conversation' (2013) - still serve as cult classics to this day.

Much like 'The Nola Clarks Xprmt', 'Astronote Rainbow' finds LaNote in the director's chair, helming all aspects of the album's creative direction and despite having often featured over some flawless productions by close collaborators for past releases including As Valet, Gus La Temp and Simon S, 'Astronote Rainbow' couldn't be in safer hands.

As the album title may suggest, 'Astronote Rainbow' connects as something of a sonically trippy Alice in Wonderland - the opening few seconds of album opener 'My Love' finds us in the midst a happy and carefree space before we're plunged into a completely different soundscape that positions us in an entirely new reality.  And it's a reality that continues to change and evolve as we fall deeper into the proverbial rabbit hole - the incredible 'Let Me See' resonates like an enchanting trance, 'Royaume' is an unapologetically electronic statement of intent and 'Orbit' is like a haunting and distorted nursery rhyme.

The mind-bending journey reaches its conclusion with the album's final two tracks almost striving to place us back where 'Astronote Rainbow' found us.  There's a very pertinent quote by US psychologist Abraham Maslow who once said "In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety".  LaNote continues to choose the former option when it comes to her music - each subsequent album release represents a forward step towards her ongoing evolution and the journey attached to each one is a continual joy to experience.