LÉNO, 2024

LINER NOTES

If the Caribbean is a “Continent of Islands”, as a reporter and great traveler once wrote, then the record you are now holding in your hands is a continent of music. A whole continent played by Arnaud Dolmen and Leonardo Montana. Stupendous, isn’t it? 

In music, as in all art forms, it is not just about being good with your hands. You need to have felt, tasted, seen and experienced, so that each note is complete, filled with what you have to put into it. What exactly do you put into it? Multiple roots, opposing paths… and maybe even accents? Arnaud Dolmen and Leonardo Montana each have their own, different but not so different. 

Let’s begin with Arnaud. A world of his own. The quintessential modern Guadeloupean drummer: versatile, cultured, inspired and inspiring. ” Undoubtedly the most musical drummer of them all,” says godfather Mario Canonge. Celebrated in mainland France as well as in Sainte-Anne, Dolmen has become essential. With him, no matter the bottle, the exhilaration is always there. Montana, his partner in crime and first listener: “Arnaud just lives in the moment. He’s a wonderful listener, because he can make everything change in a split second. He’s the epitome of a player with an open heart. He’s so transparent with his feelings that what you hear is what he is deep down. To get to know Arnaud, you just have to hear him play. ” 

As for Leonardo Montana, he’s a chameleon. Born in Bolivia, Parisian by adoption, few people know that at age thirteen, the young Brazilian came to Guadeloupe, where the power of Gwoka left a deep impression on him. “I got overwhelmed by this machine, by the sound coming out of it, which reminded me of the sounds from Brazil in a way I couldn’t explain”. Percussive, orchestral, a master of chiaroscuro, of the harsh and the beautiful, of fire and peace, Montana is a poet. “One of the most original and intelligent pianists I’ve ever played with,” confides Felipe Cabrera, the Cuban master of double bass who has accompanied him for the past twenty-two years.  “If I was to be born again,” he continues, “I would only play with him.” An inventive dreamer, Leonardo isn’t afraid of taking risks: “Together, we can follow unexpected paths,” exclaims Arnaud, “and when we do it properly, it sparks magic.” 

From that angle, LéNo was a no-brainer, despite the fact that their first steps on stage were interrupted by a storm and a global pandemic!  But the urge to form a two-man band and delve into their shared obsessions was stronger than ever. To talk and blend their accents, to quench their thirst at the wellspring of their elders (Sergius Geoffroy, Gérard Lockel), and to find in the great precursors (“Streams Of Consciousness” by Max Roach and Dollar Brand) the material for discourse unlike any other. 

So, with their eyes, ears, voices and hands, Dolmen and Montana put their idea in motion, composing a fascinating, no-holds-barred, full-throttle record. A “whole” record: turn up the volume, listen to the thundering sounds, the catchy strings, the crashing, clattering, rattling and crackling drums and cymbals. One could think that the two of them might be lacking something. There’s nothing missing here. Drawn in by the rhythms and dance, entranced by the ostinatos of the piano, the cascades and leaps into the void, the spirit surrenders.  The sound recording – an artistic craft that is unseen yet heard – opens wide the doors to their world. A world where two musicians sound like five or ten, and where stories, beliefs, imagination and dreams spring up from every interstice. 

“Before embarking on the journey, we are all children of the same lineage,” guitarist Christian Laviso once told journalist Jacques Denis. ” American people have lost the drum. We haven’t.” Arnaud Dolmen and Leonardo Montana have not forgotten this. Punctuated by Spirals, this record seems to say that history is infinite,that everything is only an eternal beginning. Making the most of his Jazzette, the smallest of all drum kits, Dolmen transcends his heritage, expands his range of expression and displays a wild inventiveness, giving new depths to each of Leonardo’s lines. Arnaud Dolmen and Leonardo Montana draw their strength from their Creole roots, a continent of islands that stretches as far as the shores of Louisiana and Brazil, and follow in the footsteps of their elders to create an enchanting, modern and timeless album. A path paved in a single voice. LéNo. 

David Koperhant