#streamcaribbean "Lunatiq" by Lorenz
Yé Moun La! In this first #streamcaribbean chronicle, I have to start with the singer I talk about all the time. Lorenz (baby). After reminding us of his musical roots in his "ADN" EP released in 2021, he introduces us to his current musical influences with the "Lunatiq" EP available since January 6th, 2023.
From zouk and R&B to kezuk (urban zouk), afrobeats and Caribbean pop, Lorenz sings love in all its forms. I’ll be honest. This album didn’t make me as enthusiastic as “ADN” made me. For the record, I listen to music for an average of 65,000 minutes a year. I streamed "ADN" so much that 4 songs out of my annual top 5 for 2021 were tracks of this album. For "Lunatiq", I didn't find the musical cohesion that made me listen to "ADN" over and over again. The tracklist is well-constructed, but I see "Lunatiq" more as an experimental mixtape where Lorenz recaps his artistic trajectory since “Sexfriends” in 2012 both musically and lyrically.
Up until now, listening to Lorenz felt like hearing a man fighting for idealized love. In our #streamcaribbean chat in early 2022, he said he struggled to write emotions with depth. His love songs would rather focus on the reactions of physical intimacy without achieving emotional intimacy. In other words, his lyrics primarily reflected the performance aspect of love, while the vulnerability that true love demands could only be heard in one or two songs per album. This time around, "Lunatiq" plays on the beauty and complexity of love rooted in everyday reality, shattering society's illusions about what happiness should be.
Lorenz continues to sing about sensuality, i.e. the pleasure of the senses, as in “En Vrai” and “Fou de Toi”, but this carnal love leads to a deeper emotional connection where the "I" dances with the "you" through "On Minit" (feat. Maeliah), "Détails" or "No Drama". The two points of view of infidelity collide between disappointment in “Nous Deux” (feat. Lycinaïs Jean) and cocky arrogance in “Toksik” (feat. Matieu White). The album's free electrons, "Ça ira" and “Real” take Lorenz out of his comfort zone. Without the mask of the eternal lover, he lets his vulnerability speak as a human being who keeps faith in the future, his vulnerability as an artist who fights to maintain his integrity. Brotherly love and self-love (outside the context of a romantic break-up) remain themes rarely tackled in zouk, and even less so from the male point of view, which shows once again that Lorenz knows how to keep an original approach.
In conclusion, "Lunatiq" sounds like the end... or the introduction of a chapter. The risk-taking involved in renewing himself lies more in the writing than in the musical composition. Drawing on his zouk roots, Lorenz travels from one genre to another, highlighting a representation of love where the search for emotional intimacy is as important as physical intimacy. What's your favorite track from this EP?