David Belle – Raspberry Flow (2025)
David Belle’s Raspberry Flow is a sumptuous and reflective sophomore album that confirms his position as one of the most intriguing cross-disciplinary artists of his generation. A British-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and filmmaker, Belle brings to this project a worldly sensibility that merges art, activism, and craftsmanship into a rich tapestry of sound and emotion. Recorded at Los Angeles’ Black Lotus Recording Studio, which he co-owns with producer Alessandro Meynardi, the record feels both cinematic and intimate, a travelogue of love, longing, and the restless human spirit.
Clocking in at 12 tracks and 39 minutes, the album opens with ‘Run Away’, a multilingual, globe-hopping invitation that immediately sets the tone: vibrant, expansive, and unapologetically fun. English, French, Creole, Spanish, and even isiXhosa swirl together in a chorus that feels like a festival in your headphones, with South African vocalist Thando Skwatsha adding a magnetic spark.
‘I Love You Baby’, featuring California’s Josie Maran, is tender without being saccharine, its breezy rhythm and soft harmonies evoking sun-bleached afternoons and second chances. The title track rolls in like a slow wave, sensual, jazz-flecked, and utterly transportive. There’s a cinematic sweep to it all, no surprise given Belle’s background in film. You can almost see the rolling credits in your mind’s eye.
The middle stretch, ‘She Took Everything’, ‘Exile’, and ‘Pages of History’, hits a deeper register. Here, Belle leans into the ache of displacement and renewal, crooning lines that sound both confessional and communal. His voice is raw silk: lived-in, unhurried, always searching. The band, AM Dandy on guitar, Lorenzo Meynardi on drums, and Riccardo Gresino on keys, play with the ease of old friends who know when to speak and when to breathe.
There’s also a sly undercurrent of funk and worldbeat energy. ‘Full Moon Fever’ slides on a groove that feels like Laurel Canyon by way of Cape Town. ‘I N’ shimmers with synths and layered percussion, like a late-night drive through the desert. Belle and co-producer Alessandro Meynardi clearly revel in experimentation. By the time ‘Run Away II’ rolls around, the circle feels complete. Skwatsha’s vocals return like an echo from another continent, lifting Belle’s words into a hymn of belonging.
The closing ‘Move On (Epilogue)’ encapsulates that journey perfectly: a reflective piano ballad that dissolves into silence like a wave retreating from the shore. It’s a reminder that endings, in Belle’s universe, are simply new beginnings reframed.
Find out more about David Belle on his official website, YouTube, Soundcloud, and Spotify.
This artist was sent to us by Hard Pressed Publicity.
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