My Fault

New age, techno pop and world music are the main ingredients for the hybrid Metisse stew, as well as Professor Skully’s inventive work in the synth lab and the stunning presence of Aida’s lush voice. All of which was well evident on this, their debut album, only now being unleashed on the Irish public having wowed the French some time back.

‘Fool Inside’ and ‘Sousounde’ are basically Enya for the third millennium, with the latter sporting a thick bass underlay, tricksy rhythms and Aida doing her magic thing on top. The staccato cellos on ‘Coco’ suck you in immediately, then its vocals intermittently go all Dolores Cranberry while a delicate trumpet tosses out some cute riffs. Aida scores again on the balladic ‘My Fault’ and does some whispery stuff on ‘Lover’s Game’, a track that should appeal to the so-called R’n’B market in the US, especially since it’s sung in English.

‘Pray’ explores new age territory while Aida’s voice keeps it firmly rooted in clubland. ‘Sadness’ is less impressive vocally, but Skully concocts a heady brew behind lyrics which, like several tracks here, are in one of the languages from Aida’s native Ivory Coast. ‘Azo Azo’ is more toe-tappingly techno with irresistibly infectious rhythms, and ‘Walking Home’ applies the same formula if less aggressively. The gentle ‘Aliguine’ has overtones of Irish melody in the piano and adds a fresh flavour to the dish.

But sometimes the quality control department seems to down tools. The track may have featured in a Madonna film, but the comparatively predictable ‘Boom Boom Ba’ could actually have been the Ivory Coast’s entry for Eurovision. Worse still, it could have won.