The Breeze Is Black

It is always dangerous for an artist when a remix of one of his songs, particularly one that strays extremely far from the original, become a hit. Soon, a follow-up album will be expected to sound like the remix that in reality the artist had little to do with, as opposed to the remixer. This quandary certainly faced broken beat DJ Frederic Beneix as he released this album of the same title as the single that became a bona fide hit thanks to a remix by Moonstarr. The album starts well enough on its own, opening with the breezy beat of "Sugar" before delving into the title track with its muffled handclaps, lightly stroked piano chords and a grainy mantra repeating "The day is long and the night is black" before the kick drum and bass groove finally engage and the poem continues. Unfortunately, the slow yet determined beat of "The Breeze Is Black" is the only accelerated moment on the album, which mostly attempts to pull in slow jazz meandering with neither the pristine sound of luminaries 4hero nor the playful sway of current faves Koop. Even the disco swell and scat antics of "Tomba" fail to express any real enjoyment, particularly when coming after a paper-weight series of lite-jazz attempts. The disc does close with a bonus track (is it really "bonus" just because it didn't fit on the vinyl?) that raves-up to freaky-deaky New York no wave disco, only to crumble on the Broadway chorus. Perhaps Beneix just isn't ready for his own solo spotlight.