Yeahman - Ostriconi (2021)

“Ostriconi” is the first full length album from French multi-instrumentalist Jean Dasso, better known as Yeahman, and its release at the start of 2021 on New York based Wonderwheel Recordings is guaranteed to kick the new year off with dreamlike finesse.

The album is named for the Ostriconi valley in Corsica, France - and across it’s 9 mellifluous tracks, listeners are transported to the lush and picturesque banks of the valley’s eponymous river. The at times surreal beauty and tranquility of the region is sonically recreated by Yeahman and his collaborators on “Ostriconi”, who lead us on a melancholic journey down from the mystical mountains to the vibrant sea, giving us a sense of a diverse and unfurling world at our feet.
The recording and production of the album were the product of Dasso’s singular artistic vision, and give musical form to artistic alliances he built between Toulouse, Dakar, Napoli and Marseille. Yeahman shares his first opus as an invitation of sorts for us to reunite in a sleepy world, one where we all yet long for the flames of dancing to reignite. “Ostriconi” bids everyone to dream of an uplifting future, and arouses that sleeping hope for such that lives in us all.

The languidly beautiful “Deelalhli” grounds the start of journey in rhythm and lively melodies right from the off, setting a tone that is explored across the rest of the album. "Baixi Baixi" follows as an ode to nature before “Soupe Feu” returns us to Yeahman’s roots in a percussive and sample-based dancefloor tune. The lead single “Sakoneta” needs no introduction as it elevates the tempo before “Ouloullou” and “Sueño Contigo” slowly bring us back to earth, a passage that culminates nicely with the introspective and pulsing “GLI-F4”. Mina Shankha, Hajna and Yeahman join forces to restyle Peruvian cumbia classic “Cariñito” before the album closes with “Lecce74”. Featuring El Buho, this last song is a melancholic ode that returns us to reality and puts a beautiful bow on the electric trip that is “Ostriconi”.