Le Temps d’une Étincelle

The trio Le Temps d’une Étincelle is Armand Charlot and his two associates: guitarist Thibaut Dasté and bassist-percussionist Bruno Rodrigues. I confess to always having some apprehension when reviewing uke based music as a great deal of it (not all of it) tends to be very similar and or quirky covers of classic songs, old blues reinvented and other attempts that don’t sound great to my ears.

I was pleasantly surprised on this winter Sunday morning to hear an album that is very well recorded and created with some really good musical attention. There is a good range of material that kicks off with a great driving track and doesn’t let up for the rest of the album. The instruments compliment each other and there’s a lot of space in the recordings with the vocals front and centre in the mix.

These guys can certainly play and are musicians who happen to include the ukulele among their instruments, rather than consider themselves “ukulele players” Crucially all the music is original rather than re-treading songs we have heard a thousand times before.  

The stand out tracks is Elle et pour moi which has a great compliment of instruments which don’t clutter the track. The harmonica on this and the opening track work to great effect with the other instruments giving them a unique sound. If I were to offer any constructive advice, it would be to explore some different tempos, but aside from that, this album makes for an enjoyable listening experience.

I suspect these guys would be great to see live as well

Check them out HERE

Nick Cody Jan 2021