Antena - Camino Del Sol (1982)

Camino Del Sol is vintage (what I like to call) "pina colada" music from the French group Antena. Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant dubbed the band's music as "electro-samba" which is a fitting precis. The most notable features here are the synths and programmed percussion that create a breezy, beachy, jazzy vibe. Other jazz instrumentation is present as well creating a full, yet mellow sound. It still manages to sound modern even by today's standards

There are lots of tiny little details that add to ambiance such as exotic birds chirping on "Camino Del Sol" or background vocal additions on "To Climb the Cliff" and "Sissexa" and most of the album. It's this hypnotic, bizarre, yet colorful chanting and cantillating that gives the album a lot of style. It makes you feel like you're waltzing through some inner city of the Cayman Islands. "Seaside Weekend" makes me wish it was summer and I was on vacation somewhere warm and exotic, with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water.

I've also always had a soft spot for non-British European English singing. There's a blunt delivery in the lyrics that is often too natural in those whose English was their first language. Isabelle Antena's (founder the group) soft and supple French accent and take on the English language is really adorable and I think it adds to the atmosphere quite nicely. Camino Del Sol was definitely ahead of its time and an original sounding piece of work if nothing else.

Note: this album is incomplete. Some of the tracks cut off short. Two of them, in particular, really short (like 30 seconds in) and I couldn't find a non hindered copy, but if I do I'll replace the link. Anyway, hope this does for now. There's still a lot of quality here.

Rating: 8.5/10

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Edit: FIXED LINK WITH FULL ALBUM thanks to Julien