Uman - Ame Soeur [Utopique 013]

Put out on the circuit on May 27th, 2k24 via the French Utopique label is "Ame Soeur", the latest album carefully crafted by Danielle and Didier Jean under their joint musical alias that is Uman. After releases on imprints like Buda Musique and the reknowned Six Degrees Records in the 90s the sixth full length outing by the duo serves a full on 14 tracks journey rolled out over the course of a whopping 71 minutes total playtime, exploring a deep and deeply unique take on what could be described as mystical and electronically backed Leftfield Pop of sorts - paired with real life instruments, sometimes playful, curious and tongue-in-cheek sounds whizzing by like an elusive fairy, all garnished and glued together by Danielle Jean's hovering ethereal vocal performance who handles Ambient-informed beatlessness as well as organic Downbeat rhythms, lively New Age-leaning structures, tender JazzPop and angelic incantations paired with Spoken Word snippets in ever so floating crystalline perfection. A kind of music we haven't heard in quite a while and didn't realize it still existed after the second half of the 80s and probably early 90s saw a rise and minor peak of what could be described as New Age Ethno Pop due to the lack of a more suitable term. One to check out is "You Go On An Adventure" which sees Uman go into satnav / video game mode to our surprise. Interesting.

Album artwork on Instagram!