Although the songs are sung mostly in French, there is some English, as on The Plug (which also has some fierce electric guitar playing, late Bob Marley style), and the classic roots reggae of Love Is The Only Solution.Chrysantemes has a strong early 80s roots feel, and Plastic Smile builds on Black Uhuru’s vintage number. Then again, a number like La Révolution has a fine contemporary approach. The straight-forward and vintage sounding West Indies has some French Creole vocals, a female vocal respondent and an attractive, lighter feel than most of the remaining material, whilst the powerful Lévé reaches across borders in so many ways, and the tour-de-force Dread closes out the album.
As you may have gathered, this release is nicely varied. Tiwony also enlists the help of various guests on this set, among them Bobby Hustle, Young Tripp, Switzerland’s Little Lion Sound, King Kalabash, Bled Miki, Chezidek (on a remix of Long Road, a track from Tiwony’s previous album, and with just a very slight hint of soul music and hip-hop), Jahlia and Badsam who add further to the eclectic but always purely reggae approach. The result is a wonderfully accessible, warm but uncompromising modern reggae set with a full awareness of the roots.