Kevin Bronson on April 27th, 2019

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“Footprints left in the sand / are all that I have,” Claude Fontaine sings ever-so-delicately in “Footprints in the Sand,” a cut from her self-titled album, which came out Friday.

Regrettably, Fontaine’s free album-release show Friday night, played to a full room at Zebulon, left barely any footprints at all. It was over in a half-hour, and that included a mid-set changeover in which her backing band was fully swapped out. Fontaine’s vocals, on point and light as a feather on the album, were merely light as a feather live, as if she didn’t want to disturb a single grain of that sand.

Her backing musicians supplied ample groove and mood for Fontaine, dressed in a silvery gown, demurely exuding charm and grace and content to let her barely-above-a-whisper singing be deep in the mix. “This is a special day for me,” she said with a smile, thanking the big crowd for turning out to an early show.

Her album draws from reggae, rocksteady, bossa nova and tropicalia, as if sung by a French chanteuse. “Mod reggae,” it has been called, which is not a bad characterization considering style is strong part of the artistic statement. Two of the singles — “Hot Tears” and album opener/set closer “Cry for Another” — were most memorable. They were performed in the lower light of the second set, backing by a stellar cast that included the precise bass of Ronnie McQueen (Steel Pulse) and tasty guitar of Tony Chin.

Fontaine’s album is sure to turn up on the turntable at your favorite hipster lounge, and it will seem like a breath of fresh air, so much different in tone and genre to what’s out there. Her live show, still a work in progress, will probably turn out to be fine, too.