Les Siffleurs de nuit. Déliez-moi les pieds!
2014. Self-released.
Québécois, Breton singing, and Scandinavian are perhaps my three favorite genres of traditional music. I know; this isn’t about me—it’s about what you should be putting in your earbuds to make life sound like a snow-covered field of happiness. But you have to believe me: if you like ANY of the aforementioned genres, you’ll want to get your mittens on Les Siffleurs de nuit. Combining two Breton singers and two multi-instrumentalists from Québec, one of whom plays nyckelharpa, their album Déliez-moi les pieds (roughly, “Untie my Feet”) stirs together a perfect blend of traditions into a nice cup of hot chocolate for your ears* (*don’t put hot chocolate in your ears). One gem of the album is the arguably one of the most beautiful kan ha diskan songs called “Metig,” sung by Emmanuelle Hélias and Anthony Gérard, and accompanied with beautiful chord progressions by Félix Duhamel and deft violin work by Alex Kehler. You can hear Kehler and Duhamel square off in a unique guitar/nyckelharpa arrangement on “Mec’hed Plonnevez,” and the album is well divided between songs in Brezhoneg and French. There is no shortage of tunes and songs that will make you either want to dance the An Dro or stomp out some podorythmie. Either way, you’ll have to untie your feet.
By Dejah Leger