Kwenders’ best tracks on Makanda are when he shares spotlight

PIERRE KWENDERS “MAKANDA” (BONSOUND)

This Montreal artist burst onto the scene with 2014’s “Le Dernier Empereur Bantou,” a multilingual, genre-hopping record rooted in Congolese rumba that landed him nominations for the Junos, the Polaris Music Prize, and Quebec’s ADISQs. Born in Kinshasa, Kwenders wanted to dive deeper into his Congolese roots on his second album. To do so, he travelled to Seattle to work with Tendai “Baba” Maraire, the Zimbabwean-American half of psychedelic hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces. “Makanda” moves Kwenders away from modern dance trends and further into midtempo polyrhythms. Kwenders is a natural star, but some of the best tracks here are where he cedes the spotlight, sharing it with Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler on the title track, and duetting with Tanyaradzwa on the lush, stringdrenched ballad “Zonga.”

Kwenders plays a free show at the Guelph Jazz Festival’s Market Square Stage on Sept. 16 at 9:30 p.m., followed by the Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra at 11:30 p.m.

Totally unrelated Guelph Jazz Fest recommendation: veteran avant-garde guitarist René Lussier plays country and western and swing songs with a new trio, Meuh, featuring a pedal steel player and turntablist Martin Tetreault, at 2 p.m. at Guelph Little Theatre.

Stream: “Makanda,” “Welele,” “Zonga” featuring Tanyaradzwa

LEIF VOLLEBEKK “TWIN SOLITUDE” (SECRET CITY)

This album is seven months old now. But it’s shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the winner of which will be announced on Monday, Sept. 18. It’s a dark horse candidate in a year when A Tribe Called Red is the favoured winner, while Gord Downie and Leonard Cohen dominate most of the discussion.

So how did this unassuming folk record sneak in beside the kings and queens of Canada’s critically acclaimed creative community? Excellent question. Vollebekk’s songs are sparse, melodically similar, and sound like a guy making up words as he sits in the passenger seat driving through North America. (Song titles: “Vancouver Time,” “Big Sky Country,” “Michigan,” “Telluride.”) It sounds effortless — and not in a good way. There is nothing here to distinguish him from hundreds of sad-sack songwriters.

Discussing each track here with CBC Music, Vollebekk said of one, “I think I was hungover when I wrote this song. I’d been dragged to a club in Montreal. The next morning I was bleary-eyed and started playing these chords and singing whatever came and this song kind of came out. It seems to be about nothing specific but it kind of connects what it needs to, where it needs to.” All of “Twin Solitude” seems like it was composed in a similar fashion.

Vollebekk’s main talent is as a producer: he knows how to situate his songs in a groove and find sympathetic players to play as little as possible, with only the simplest string orchestrations and subtle touches on piano and pedal steel. The problem is that this skeletal approach works best for songs that require no distraction. These songs, on the other hand, require as much distraction as necessary.

Stream: “Elegy,” “Into the Ether,” “Rest”

CHAD VANGAALEN “LIGHT INFORMATION” (SUB POP)

A mad scientist at work in his Calgary garage, Chad VanGaalen is a psychedelic animator (Shabazz Palaces, Timber Timbre, Tagaq), a scrappy record producer (Alvvays, Women), an avant-garde electronic soundscaper, and an ace songwriter who combines all his interests — and contributions from his two young children — into a shocking cohesive new album of songs that suggest where Neil Young might have ended up had he continued turning left after 1982’s “Trans.” Over the course of six albums and side projects, the scattershot VanGaalen isn’t always as focused as he is here, on an album that easily stands beside his classic debut, 2005’s recently rereleased “Infiniheart,” and 2008’s “Soft Airplane.”

Stream: “Mind Hijacker’s Curse,” “Mystery Elementals,” “Old Heads”

MERIDIAN BROTHERS “¿DÓNDE ESTÁS MARÍA?” (SOUNDWAY)

These prolific Colombian oddballs have evolved from a one-man project involving dorky old keyboards and cumbia beats into an actual band, with a clarinet player, percussionist, and bassist. The added instrumentation elevates what was once a curiosity into a rich, deep dance party with relentless rhythms and textual layers. Too bad summer is over.

Stream: “Canto Me Levantó,” “Yo Soy Tu Padre, Yo Te Fabriqué,” “Háblame Amigo, Citadino”