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Although his last EP was called The King of Anxiety, there is nothing self-conscious about the latest offering from Petite Noir (real name Yannick Ilunga) – or the teasers for his new album La Vie Est Belle (Life is Beautiful).
With a set of trippy, textured images by British photographer Lina Viktor, and some delicious new music and videos, Ilunga is once again evolving and building on his Noir Wave ideology – which reflects the idea that not everything that comes from Africa needs to be stereotypically African.
The video for one of his new singles, Down, is a colourful journey through the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lubumbashi – complete with cheeky inserts of a military guard, smiling children, a woman dressed in full traditional wear, and shots of the (gorgeous) Ilunga strutting in the streets.
While it’s certainly not as futuristic as his album artwork or the video for The Fall suggests, it’s still very much Petite Noir. With a bustling Lingala beat and catchy refrain throughout, it’s a tasty way to whet your appetite until the full album is released in September.
