artist: Deep Forest country of origin: France style(s): Ethno ambient, ambient breaks, ambient house essential releases: Deep Forest (1992, Sony) Boheme (1995, Sony)

A close musical cousin of Enigma (and far superior), Deep Forest pairs French dance producers Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. Their debut album Deep Forest emerged during the first wave of ambient house music in the early 90's. Sanchez had travelled the world collecting ethnic records and came up with the simple but effective idea of sampling some tribal singing and blending it with electronic beats. The massive hit single “Sweet Lullaby” is masterful, with its shy pygmy vocals carried on a slow, hypnotic drum loop and a gorgeous progression of synth chords. It's genuinely touching and quite unforgettable. Elsewhere, tracks like “Deep Forest” and “Hunting” up the tempo with funkier, faster beats and some of the processed vocal samples take on an almost comic quality.

Boheme is an equally accomplished follow-up and sees them moving beyond the forests of Africa to the world of East European folk music. Again it’s an engaging mix of old and new, traditional songs and vocal samples fused with electronic beats and rich ambient textures. No doubt in response to the accusations of ethnic plagiarism that dogged them over their first album, the duo this time scrupulously document their sampled sources. After Boheme the group virtually disappeared from view and subsequent albums have struggled to match the inspired fusion of their early work.

HOME