DAOUI, “blkgrls” [self-released 2020] | An absolute spell-binder of a track on a five-song EP/LP crammed with them. DAOUI is a Chicago duo consisting of the mighty Angel Bat Dawid, vocalist/composer/clarinet and keys player/oracle, and a producer who goes by Oui Ennui (more info as soon some turns up). Their collaboration is everything one wants in a meeting of two beautiful musical polymath souls establishing a genre-free zone. It’s all built from a platform of Oui Ennui’s studio electronics, beats and moods, that Angel brings her voice and clarinet to — some are deeply groovy (”Your Machine”), while others are noisy, experimental and forward Middle Eastern tonalities (”Mandatory Sherm Limits” whose two parts unfold for 20minutes). But “blkgrls” is still in a league of its own, a rolling beat and scratches coupled with a vocal loop (“Nothing will hinder my full surrender to our nation’s pearls/Black Girls”) that gives the track its name and which reminds me of golden-era hip-hop records that Dante Ross would shepherd...catchy and warm. But that’s before Angel’s horn arrives and starts jamming with Oui’s keys, and the whole thing takes flight into another dimension. It’s been on a loop in the household, helping keep our head above water — or at least aiding and abetting whatever the October 2020 version of sanity is.   Â
