L’Eclair Keep on Grooving

A heady mixture of Joe Meek, Fela Kuti and the whole of Jamaican dub history, with a hint of Bert Kaempfert and the Shadows thrown in, Geneva-based six-piece L’Eclair likes “to have it the groovy way”, as their press release puts it. Their jazz-inflected instrumentals might possibly raise the suspicion they were flirting with cheesy listening – if they weren’t so damn, danceably funky.

Having released three albums between 2017 and 2019, and played countless gigs all over Europe, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, Bad Bonn Kilbi, Transmusicales de Rennes, and Eurosonic, their restless creative spirit has already resulted in their next record, an EP this time. It’s called “Noshtta” – нощта – which means “the night” in Bulgarian, apparently. Recorded in two days (with an extra day thrown in to record their part of a 7” shared with The Mauskovic Dance Band), “Noshtta” was released on 22 May in a pretty global sort of way by the irrepressible people from the Bongo Joe label/café/record shop in Geneva, in collaboration with the Allah Las’ record label Calico Discos.

L’Eclair
Bongo Joe Label
Calico Discos