Chris St. Hilaire uses Calypso, Steelpan, and Dub to dance with world tensions on new album Praise and Blame
Artwork by Kingsley Nebechi
BROOKLYN, NY – In his second full-length album titled Praise and Blame, Trinidadian-American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and producer Chris St. Hilaire delivers a polycultural, polyphonic collection of compositions to meet this moment. The album is set for release on December 25th.
In the hard-hitting first song of the album, St. Hilaire uses the Calypso tradition to both celebrate Carnival culture and draw attention to its corruption. Using the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, the steelpan, as a centerpiece for the entire album, St. Hilaire builds communal arrangements around percussion, brass, woodwind, string, and voice. All music was written, recorded, and produced by St. Hilaire. “I wanted to challenge myself to be a better orchestrator,” says St. Hilaire, “For this project, it made more sense to be a group statement, and the music came to life more with other voices involved than it would have with just me doing it.”
Praise and Blame is a nod to Calypso music, emphasising its traditional function as political commentary in Caribbean culture, but there are distinct differences in St. Hilaire’s approach to dealing with the tensions pervading the world. “I want to make fun and celebratory music, but a major critique that I have of Carnival music, Reggae music, Soca music, any party music for that matter, is that it’s trying to remove itself and all of us from the troubles of the world instead of allowing us to process them,” says St. Hilaire. In writing this new album, St. Hilaire develops his counterpoint to those tensions head on, and in a very substantial way.
Satire is foundational to the music on Praise and Blame, and the central persona that is woven throughout the album is one known as the “Midnight Robber” – a Carnival character with flair and style who uses the power of rhyme and wordsmithing to make his whip-smart point. St. Hilaire describes the Midnight Robber as a character who doesn’t necessarily have a moral agenda, but one who is agitating the conversation forward. This deep character development featured in the music is a step forward for St. Hilaire in his writing and producing, and the idea of the Midnight Robber as a trickster matches his approach to writing this album. St. Hilaire’s passion for film scoring, especially from the era of Ennio Morricone, is apparent on Praise and Blame, and the convergence of Italian-Western themes mixed with Trinidadian culture makes a mockery of genre just as the Midnight Robber might.
Throughout Praise and Blame, St. Hilaire wants you to enjoy the feeling of dancing to the beat, but also wants you to have a realization moment to the world events being addressed on the album. On “Cease” St. Hilaire sings of needless wars in the world, “Well, they bombing in the east, yeah, they bombing in the west, they taking what they please and destroying all the rest.” Reflecting on what inspired this song, St. Hilaire talks of how there is a “creature in the world that is flourishing and using the logic of self-defense and freedom to justify the shameless killing of children on a daily basis.”
On Praise and Blame, Chris St. Hilaire is writing for and speaking to Trinidad and Tobago and a specific cultural experience. There’s a sense of needing to transmit messages of resistance through the vessel of Calypso. Praise and Blame is a type of celebration where you’re snapped back into focus well before the credit roll.
Chris St. Hilaire
Praise and Blame
Release Date: December 25, 2025
Formats: Digital download, streaming
Track Listing:
Pan Zandolee
Election Picong
Minnie at Midnight
Layla Parang
Cease
Breadfruit Dub
Uninvited Guest
No War Drum
Sabata's Chutney
Django in Negril
For more information visit www.chrissthilaire.com
For all inquiries, please contact:
Nick Gunther
Cleotone Entertainment
nick@cleotone.com