Delphine Dora - Le Grand Passage

Intriguing left turn from Modern Love with this latest record of chamber song from Delphine Dora. It's an equally interesting suite of eight tracks from Dora, too, one-take, untreated recordings of her singing alone at the piano. It's powerful stuff, not least because it doesn't hide from the intimacy of mistake, embracing instinct and emotional catharsis. Dora's voice sometimes falters, but it's in those moments the music best connects, those little cracks that light the windows to the soul, or at least just the self. Rare to hear such a prolific and proficient artist so naked and unadorned - is this the same appeal as we find in amateur musics? It doesn't feel right to consider Dora as such, but there is the same spirit of feeling first/thought after that's suitably charming, bold and, ultimately, emotionally connective. Any notion of The Real might be a little after the fact at this stage, but La Grand Passage makes a more than accomplished gesture towards it.