The tracks on Hebden Bridge-based musician Léna C’s sophomore EP, Stimuli, act as a diary, a travelogue. The journey beginning with Au Large, a trip to the Balearics. Built from birdsong and Lena’s sighs. Surfing a gentle bongo / conga tide. It’s a very Mediterranean take on the romance of Art Of Noise. Calling to mind Linda Di Franco and the laid-back soundtrack to Ku Club’s legendary “Look De Ibiza” `80s promo video. 

Bat Kare jumps to Reunion, in the Indian Ocean. Its Maloya rhythm driven by a shaken flat sugar cane rattle. Something about it seems spiritual. The woodwinds, perhaps. With one foot in Jon Hassell’s fourth world fusions, the track is a kinda “ethno-jazz”. Too groovy, though, for academics like ECM. 

Inspiration Zouk crosses the Caribbean Sea to Martinique and Guadeloupe. Slow, seductive, with added smoky sax, it nods toward Wally Badadrou’s programmed, percussive, techno / Synclavier tropics, while also haunted by the percolating pop of Michael Jackson’s Human Nature.

Clap de Fin explores the same stamping and stomping traditional Ugandan beat as Auntie Flo’s epic The Soniferous Garden. Its tribal vibe complimented by distant chants, and countered by a catchy synth hook. 

Finally, Elle, Dani… returns home. An ethereal, electronic lullaby, that still summons some sun-kissed paradise beach, where soft-focus swells and fluttering keys soothe Middle Eastern oud. The piece was penned for fallen friend, Danielle Moore, of Crazy P. 

Léna C’s Stimuli can be ordered directly from Earthly Measures.