Album premiere: Listen to the debut album by Wild Belle, Isles

Photo by Jennifer Tzar Wild Belle makes music for an integrated world. Chicago natives, brother and sister Elliot and Natalie Bergman, draw on reggae, pop, West African and psychedelic music on its mesmerizing debut album, Isles, out on Tuesday, March 12th. Listen to the album in its entirety below.

Isles is brimming with warm, mystical grooves and dreamy dance songs laced in pop tradition. Natalie and Elliot perform many of the instruments themselves including a wide range of keyboards including piano, Hammond, Fender Rhodes, Memory Moog, Minimoog and Casio. Elliot plays saxophone and percussion including congas and kalimba. Natalie’s lead vocals are beguiling and sensual, and the songs are complemented with bass, guitar and drums, handled by Erik Hall, who plays with Elliot in the jazz/funk/afrobeat influenced Chicago band Nomo.

Songs like “Keep You,” “Twisted,” and “It’s Too Late,” are catchy and irresistibly playful and on “June,” Wild Belle grab a page out of the playbook of the early rock steady sounds of Jamaica with refreshing results. In fact, Isles feels like a deep dive in to the classic Trojan Records catalog with great respect for the past while crafting something thoroughly modern sounding. For Wild Belle, the groove is definitely in the heart.

Isles is out Tuesday, March 12th. Buy the album here.