There’s love, and then there’s the kind of love described in the song Pou Lanmou on Darline Desca’s album A Plein Temps. Take a listen:

Mwen te toujou kwè avèk ou vi’m ta pi bèl
Pou mwen ou se yon limyè ki soti
Anyen pa ekziste lè ou pran kote’m
Sa yo di…mwen pa ekziste san ou
E ou wè
Mwen pap jan fè anyen kont ou…
Pou lanmou mwen gen nan kè’m pou ou

Have always thought that you’re pretty much the highlight of my life
To me, you’re a bright light lighting up my life
Nothing else matters when you’re next to me
What they say…
Without you, there’s no me
And you see,
We’re always going to be on the same page
Loving you the way I do.

Oh, goodness, gracious. Co-dependent love at its worst. Mutual acquaintances are shaking their heads. This lanmou just might careen off to something really dangerous. Dangerously in love!

Zanmi di fò nou fè atansyon
Pou yo se yon foli
Nou renmen ak twòp pasyon

To them this love is pure craziness
We love too hard

But, lookee, lookee here….there’s a reason for that…..

Lanmou ak la rezon pat janm bon zanmi.
Pouki poze kesyon?
An nou pran plezi

Love and reasoning were never bosom buddies.
Why ask questions?
Let’s stay turnt up.

Aha! This is an illicit relationship. Whenever folks are afraid to ask questions, it’s usually because they’re afraid of the answer they’ll get, and if they’re afraid of the answer they’ll get, it’s usually because it’s not too pleasant. And if it’s not too pleasant….well, it’s usually because both must be doing something terribly wrong…say adultery. Oh dear, let me move on to the next song!

But wait a minute. I have to admit that I really like that line about love and reason never being friends. According to David Dasalvo in an article in Psychology Today magazine, when we’re falling in love, the brain releases less serotonin…and serotonin activates self-control…so…it’s understandable why the couple in the song “Pou Lanmou” act the way they do. Did I mention how soothing this song is? As if the listening is lying in a bright-colored canoe in a summer void of tropical storms…just vibing with some silk pillow cases in said canoe.

Sequenced much later on A Plein Temps is this song “M’Anvi”, which sounds like “Pou Lanmou” at a codependent level you didn’t think possible. Even less serotonin…barely a drop.

Manvi solèy la monte sou nou
Jis nou antre nan tè

I want the sun to go down on us
Til we get swallowed up by the earth

Oh, my! You know what would have been just torrid? Had “Ou Brase’m” followed “M’Anvi” on the record, as opposed to being the first track. The situation, captain, would have been dire. On that track, the songstress sounds like she’s going to give way to insanity any minute now.

The track “Mon Konpè” has a world-beat vibe to it. You ever see cereal slowly softening in a bowl? Well, that’s how it is with this song…the album’s jazz influences are muted out, and this roots-rock beat comes on as the songstress sings about the cultural and economic value of those who work the land.

On “Mon Konpè”, the lyrics jeer at those who flaunt French, while the folks in the mountains are basically running things. In Pwofesi, the singer goes to the next level on her exprobating, promising a more than calamitous apocalypse.

The chorus in “Sa Mwen Ye” makes the song so worthwhile. A song about empowerment, it’s easily one of the best tracks on A Plein Temps. On the title track “A Plein Temps”, it almost sounds like Macy Gray is singing in French…I wonder if she’s influenced by her at all. The song delineates the lonely life of an artist, and could as well be sung by an Ella Fitzgerald, a Corinne Rae Bailey, or…a Darline Desca.

The album closes off with “Pa Lage”, a track that’s even more empowering than “Sa Mwen Ye”. Okay, maybe not necessarily more empowering….”Sa Mwen Ye” is personal empowerment, whereas “Pa Lage” is community empowerment.

A Plein Temps is singer Darline Desca’s musical dispatch to the world. There are love signals (” Pa Dòmi San W Pa Bo M”), life lessons (“Love Is Blind”), but the best part of the dispatch is her golden voice.
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