Dinner At The Thompson's - Off The Grid (CD)

With sweet but smoky vocals from New York-born, California-raised Lucille Tee and beats from Le Havre, France-based producer & mulit-instrumentalist Fablive, the two  commingle dirty Stones Throw-esque Hip-Hop beats, chilled-out Downtempo, coffeeshop Soul, more traditional Soul and Jazz, and even a bit of French Pop to create a sound that’s both grounded & heavy, and light & airy. A Franco-American singer and a French producer of enormous talent (a rarity) engaged in an eclectic project with a well chosen name and graphics, whose aesthetics we could situate somewhere in between Portishead and the duo formed by Herbert and his sweet-heart Dani Siciliano. The emphasis put on the contrast between rhythmic hip-hop beats, melodious samples and an ethereal voice brings all the charm and efficiency to this album.  In a style that we all buried too quickly, Lucille Tee’s timbre, similar to that of Lizz Field, and Fablive’s creativity compose an ideal urban sound, to be savored solo or on the dance floor.