Lhasa De Sela – The Living Road (2xLP)

Maybe it was Lhasa's unconventional upbringing, spent in a converted school bus between the US and Mexico, that has given her such a unique vision. Whatever the reason, she stands as one of the most idiosyncratic Mexican-American performers, fully aware of the tradition, but putting her own spin on it. Her debut album, 1998’s La Llorona, a collaboration with Canadian guitarist and composer Yves Derosier, won her a great number of fans on all sides of the Atlantic, beguiled by her strange, richly sensual music, and her smoky jazz phrasing. Sung in Spanish, English and French and mostly self-written, Lhasa’s sophomore album, The Living Road, centres on the metaphor of life as a road.