Leïla Martial BAA Box

Leïla Martial BAA Box

German premiere

A decade ago multi-talented French singer Leïla Martial reached a fork in the road, and chose a career in music over one as an actress. But as evidenced by her lissome trio Baa Box (named for the bleating of a sheep) she’s retained a great deal of her theatricality, playfully channelling her arsenal of often wordless vocal coos, cries, swoops, and grunts into a magical journey to a land where genre doesn’t exist. Expertly supported by the percolating, danceable rhythms of drummer Eric Pérez and the Technicolor sound washes and countermelodies of guitarist Pierre Tereygeol, Martial injects a fizzy pop sensibility into elastic structures manufactured live through inventive looping techniques. On the trio’s recent album “Warm Canto” one can hear the influence of daring vocal experimenters like Björk, Camille, and Maria João in the effervescent arrangements, where a sense of fun and adventure masks the group’s subtle virtuosity. For Martial and her partners the jazz tradition offers a platform to improvise with new melodic and rhythmic ideas, endlessly tweaking deceptively simple songs into vividly blossoming vignettes that both delight and challenge listeners.

Leïla Martial BAA Box on  YouTube

Leïla Martial BAA Box (FR) German premiere

Leïla Martial lead vocals, glockenspiel
Pierre Tereygeol guitars, vocals
Eric Perez drums, vocal bass, guitar, sampler