Gerald Toto - Sway - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

2018 . We last heard Gérald Toto on trio album Bondeko, recorded with fellow global travellers Lokua Kanza and Richard Bona, the Inchdreamy backdropInch and Inchimmaculate sweet harmoniesInch of which earned a run of four and five star reviews, leading one reviewer to liken the trio to Inchan African Crosby, Stills and Nash.Inch Entirely written, performed and produced single-handedly by Gérald, Sway's collection of 11 new songs takes it's listener on an imaginary journey to a world that has time to stop and stare, where the frenetic din of modernity is hushed to a murmur, Toto's songs seemingly plucked from a place of timeless reverie. The songs on Sway refuse categorization, a cultural melting pot of acoustic folk, jazz, soul, pop and blues with cosmopolitan borders that embrace exotic Creole and Caribbean favours. Highlights include the sweet, sambatinged romance of InchMy GirlfriendInch and the futuristic doopwop that underpins InchUmbakaInch, alongside the diaphanous, sun-dappled lilt of Sway's title track. Elsewhere, the gravitydefying 'Away Alive' and 'Let It Blow' are leavened by the skittering electronic beats that drive 'It's A Love Pain' and eerie, atmospheric album closer 'The Night Is Coming'. For if quiet is the new loud, Gérald Toto's voice is blessed with an eloquence that demands to be heard, as his gently insistent songs whisper in an emotional language as universal as it is engaging. Sway to the rhythms of life.