Artist: Michael Doucet
Album: Lacher Prise
Label: Compass Records
Release Date: 2.14.2020 87
Michael Doucet says of this his latest release that he hopes it’s fun and enjoyed by listeners. And fun it certainly is, much as might be expected from this Louisiana musical giant. With a couple of Grammys under his belt, not to mention double-figure nominations, and the first Grammy awarded to a Cajun band with his alter-ego, BeauSoliel, Doucet can turn on the charm, the fun and the musical mastery at the drop of a proverbial hat. Here we have Doucet teamed up with a new band, including players from the likes of the Duhks and Bonamassa, to combine as Lacher Prise, a Bayou term roughly meaning “Let go.”
With the ten-track Lacher Prise, he again rattles along with his always-driving, astonishingly gripping fiddle work and sense of rip-roaring good ol’ toe-tapping music at the heart. Doucet seldom puts a foot or a finger wrong and moves effortlessly across genres with some fiery Spanish-sounding undercurrents that almost miraculously manage to remain rooted in that Cajun, Acadian tradition he so embodies. Doucet includes sort of marching band rhythms and ripples at times before suddenly drifting off into a mixture, a mélange of French and English lyricism that always typifies much of what he does best.
The surprising thing about this guy is that he is seldom recognized for the true talent he most assuredly is, and the remarkable ability he invariably delivers seemingly with neither fuss nor difficulty. With his unerring eye and ear for good-time, Louisiana and Cajun music—a genre all too often overlooked or sneered at by its blues cousins who arrogantly think they hold the musical high ground—Doucet is nothing less than a true US national treasure. Lacher Prise simply adds yet another string to his already swinging bow. Treat yourself to some mighty fine Cajun music with this one, wonderful stuff yet again from a master musician.
—Iain Patience
Be the first to comment!