Moving away from the chansonnier form, Dom La Nena offers a first album without words, full of grace and sweetness.

We shouldn’t be surprised to hear no words on Leon, Dom La Nena’s most recent album. She dipped her bow in the instrumental music on Tempo (2021), which notably included a sad waltz, and had clearly expressed the feeling of liberation she had felt in freeing herself from the texts.

Leon (this is the name she gives to her instrument) takes advantage of all the experience of the musician of Brazilian origin. The former student of Christine Walevska, the “cello goddess”, reconnects with her classical roots, sometimes tapping the body of her instrument and drawing deliberately lyrical pieces, consisting of a superposition of tracks with ample melodies punctuated by plucked strings .

Whether she offers a waltz or more neo-classical pieces, Dom La Nena relies exclusively on the voice of her instrument. Leon is also a sort of time traveller, his approach sometimes evoking older music (Février), other more modern (Longe, the only one whose atmosphere is slightly tampered with), but all show a desire to inner peace. Softer than truly melancholic, Leon is a morning record. Or the soundtrack indicated for a gray day that we want to soothe.