Carlou D has the potential to become a major West African star. Once a member of the Senegalese hip-hop group Positive Black Soul, he has a powerful voice that can switch to an easy falsetto, and is an excellent guitarist and thoughtful songwriter. His second international solo release, recorded in Stockholm and Dakar, shows him trying hard to reach a wider western market, but with mixed results. It starts well, with a gutsy salute to Senegal that echoes his mentor Youssou N’Dour, but then loses focus. There’s a dash of hip-hop mixed in with gutsy chanting on the English-language ballad Soldier, on which he is joined by Eagle Eye Cherry (the brother of Neneh Cherry, who recorded the hit 7 Seconds with Youssou), and elsewhere he switches from unfortunate string-backed mainstream pop balladry to fine vocals and acoustic guitar work on the Islamic credo I Believe. Patchily impressive.
