Dérivé - EP

In October 2018, Gérald Toto made his return in solo with "Sway", an "irresistibly soothing" album according to Le Monde, "a pure jewel of subtlety" according to FIP and "an album of infinite sweetness" according to Radio Nova. Going to the essential and giving himself a contagious treat is exactly what “Sway” pursued. The music was a clear line, which undulated and swayed following the rhythm of life. Gérald Toto took us on a journey into the wide spaces of intimacy, whispering sweet somethings into our ears. Thirty years after choosing to embark on a musical career, Gérald has kept the enthusiasm, the daydreams and the energy of his adolescence intact, yet refined, sifted through the years. Years of searching for "the clear line", simple and true, which resembles him.  

All of this, of course, has a history and is the fruit of a long journey. Born in France in 1967, Gerald Toto’s West Indian parents hailed from the Antilles and were tax officials rather than musicians. But they were ardent music lovers and the parental collection of vinyl was like manna from heaven to Gerald as the house in which he grew up vibrated to the sounds of American soul, Afro-Caribbean dance music, Congolese soukous and makossa from Cameroon. The radio provided an education in pop and rock and the first record he bought was a Pink Floyd album.  

Then came Neil Young, Bob Marley and a burgeoning interest in jazz. By the age of ten he was playing the guitar, followed by the bass, an instrument which has always fascinated him. A student loan was used to finance the building of a home studio, where – in his own words – he progressed from laboratory assistant to a full-blown “mad scientist of sound”. 

In 2005, he hooked up for the first time with the Congolese singer Lokua Kanza and the Cameroonian Afro-jazz star Richard Bona, a felicitous teaming that led to the collaborative album Toto Bona Lokua (Nø Førmat!). Gérald knew that with his two companions, he had to be precise, rigorous and clear-sighted. He is now seeking for that clear, uncluttered line, an Ariadne thread stripped of the stylistic devices that prevented him from finding his own language. 

"Dérivé" is a continuation of "Sway". He explains: "To speak to the intimate. To try to put in correspondence the solitudes through the intimate. What unites us is our child's heart, making us grow through curiosity, wonder, dream, contemplation, sensory sensations! I needed to make myself feel good. To give myself a gentle gesture, and my greatest pleasure is when this shared gesture is received in the same place by the other." 

This first EP draws from diversities; he smoothly plays the guitar, the bass and the percussions. The voice is the master, capable of all nuances, singing texts in Creole and in English, written with the help of his accomplice Jule Japhet. The encounters are still a pleasure, crystallizing beautiful friendship in music with cellist Vincent Ségal or percussionist-singer Francis Lassus, allowing Gerald to reinvent himself. In softness.