Tiger Run is the eighth studio album for Sally Nyolo – a soulful Cameroon-born, Paris-based veteran who got her start in the early 80s as a back-up singer before releasing her debut in the mid ’90s. Mixing more traditional influences from her home country with French pop, reggae and smooth jazz, the record is a bright and breezy listen.
Nyolo opens the album in a rush of positivity with ‘ Bidjegui’ – her bright, cascading vocals are backed by light-as-air guitar work and syncopated drumming, with the band expertly shifting through the song’s changing time signatures. A sitar opens the slightly more serious but no less interesting “Me So Wa Yen’, before locking in to a groove that flirts with unravelling at any moment. The drumming and guitar on this song in particular are beautifully rhythmic and restrained, but also very clean. Indeed, there are hardly any effects to be heard across the album- this allows Nyolo’s amazingly warm and soulful voice to take centre stage.
Elsewhere, the much slower title track is a stunning showcase for Nyolo, who shows just how raspy her voice can be. With little more than a backing guitar, its quite striking the intimacy she evokes when there is minimal instrumentation. She also has a great sense of humour – although mostly singing in French, ‘Welcome’ is an exceedingly fun track seemingly poking fun at American stereotypes, even with a dash of cock-rock guitar shredding. The summery ‘Le Faiseur De Pluie Par Tous Les Temps’ also borders on the absurd with its operatic female backing.
While Nyolo can’t quite maintain the level of quality showcased in the first half, there are still plenty of joys to be had elsewhere. The stunning outro of ‘Medjok’, with classical guitar strums and trumpet improvisation, the sorrowful violin bows during ‘Elle Regarde Passer’, or the flourishes of flute in the closing ‘Tiga’, are all moments where Nyolo branches out with instrumentation and succeeds admirably.
The only real misstep truthfully is ‘Kilimanjaro’. The only track sung in English, the lyrics are so cringe worthy they overshadow the worthy message and the fact that it’s actually a fine song musically. But at less than 40 minutes, the biggest criticism of Tiger Run is that it doesn’t go for longer. While it can be easy to underestimate music that sounds this effortless, its no luck that Nyolo consistently produces heart-warming earworms that beg for repeat listens.
Wyatt Lawton-Masi
