Chantal Acda - Saturday Moon (2021)

Features guest musicians Bill Frisell, Alan and Mimi from Low and many more. ?I first heard Chantal Acda sing and play the early 2000's in San Sebastian, Spain. I shared the bill that night with her group Sleeping Dog. After their set was finished and I had caught my breath, I thought of Sandy Denny and Cat Power and Van Morrison and every singer who had ever hijacked my tears and lifted me towards a light. She was that gifted, that unique and that honest and the ensuing years have only strengthened her gifts. Chantal and I eventually joined forces in a trio with drummer Eric Thielemans (Sun Ra, John Zorn, Charlemagne Palestine, Mika Vainio) that we named Distance, Light & Sky. If we were to assign one of those words, to each of the group's band members, I would imagine the best fit for Chantal would be "sky." Her favorite place in the world is Iceland, with its vast open-roof horizons. Her music at times echoes such spaces and the deep awe that they inspire. There is a hard earned sense of possibility in her songs. Even in the saddest ones, she won't let us give up. She nudges us to keep searching until we find our home - even if it is in a far flung place. At the edge of what we know. While Chantal's three previous solo albums were immaculately produced by two luminaries of the so-called "post-classical" scene (Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick and Phill Brown respectively), "Saturday Moon" is a more feral child and is all the stronger for it. Caution is thrown to the wind and the emphasis is now on instinct and what is discovered from the get-your-hands-dirty process of just doing things. When I talked to Chantal about the album, she made it clear that this shift in tone and method was quite purposeful. She had decided to produce the album herself to protect the clarity and freedom of that vision: "when I started this it was a very clear and very easy idea - still very organized in a way - one microphone, only me in the room. That's it. Simple four minute songs for a change. But then I just felt lonely and I started connecting and reconnecting with people who I really love musically. Nobody producing and telling me to stop. I felt a little bit out of control and I loved it. It was a celebration of a part of me that is quite chaotic and not thinking and impulsive. And I guess a part of me that I didn't touch musically much before." The first song and title track "Saturday Moon" feels liberated and bursting with ideas from its first notes onward. Drummer Eric Thielemans supple groove sets up Congolese guitarist Rodriguez Vangama's gorgeous soukous flourishes which sets up the P?wawau singers's soaring vocalizations on the refrain. It is a free spirited mix of things, that maintains an elegant coherence because of Chantal's always assured songwriting, arranging and vocal presence. The album continues to spin and turn and upend preconceptions throughout its length.