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Claude Fontaine's music perfectly captures the thrill that comes with discovering an excellent old LP at a record store. The Los Angeles songwriter's debut single "Cry For Another" felt like a time capsule to the heyday of '70s reggae, honing in with such impressive detail that the references to Jamaican music were transcendent. Her just-announced debut album, Claude Fontaine, promises 10 tracks of artful reverence and tasteful reimagining of globetrotting sounds. It's out April 26 on Innovative Leisure and boasts a wealth of notable guests like Brazilian drummer Airto Moreira, Steel Pulse's Ronnie McQueen, and several collaborators of Ziggy Marley, Sergio Mendes, Gal Gosta, and more.As a taste of the forthcoming LP, Fontaine has shared single “Pretending He Was You.” Here, Fontaine trades her love for reggae and rocksteady for a rich Bossa Nova-inspired arrangement. It’s a hypnotic and romantic track, with Fontaine longingly crooning, “All I have is my dream of the past / keeping me company.” She explained the song to Noisey in a statement: "Sometimes the illusion of a person you once loved is your greatest companion, holding the space in your heart and mind of someone who truly exists beside you, with you wherever you may go. A bittersweet fantasy…” Listen below and pre-order the album, which was recorded at Los Angeles’ Kingsize Sound and Sage and Sound, which was Chet Baker’s old studio, here.
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Josh Terry is a writer. Follow him on Twitter.