Jensen's career trajectory reads like a cultural odyssey: Argentina to Brazil to France to Quebec, each geographical shift leaving its mark on his increasingly cosmopolitan musical palette. After quarter-century apprenticeship spanning twelve albums, this collaboration with Bïa finds him distilling his wanderlust into three minutes of pure, honeyed escapism.
The track's central conceit—that samba transcends even romantic love—might have seemed precious in lesser hands. Yet Jensen and Bïa navigate this potentially treacherous territory with the kind of knowing wink that transforms kitsch into art. When Jensen declares that "the rhythm of samba is natural like the water we drink, it comes from the earth and the sky at the same time," he's not merely indulging in mystical hyperbole but articulating a fundamental truth about music's power to unite disparate souls.
Bïa's contribution proves essential rather than ornamental. Her voice interweaves with Jensen's weathered baritone like smoke curling around candlelight, creating harmonic spaces that feel both intimate and expansive. The production, presumably handled at Jensen's own Studio La Maison Ronde, favours warmth over precision—a choice that serves the material's sensual intentions admirably.
"Boum Boum Boum" functions as an ideal calling card for Jensen's forthcoming album "À l'humain! À la vertu!" If this represents the opening gambit of his return to prominence, one can only anticipate what revelations await. The single succeeds not through grand gestures but through accumulated details: the way Bïa's voice catches on certain syllables, the gentle insistence of the rhythm section, the overall sense of musicians genuinely enjoying themselves.
Critics have long compared Jensen to Manu Chao and Caetano Veloso, and while such comparisons contain grains of truth, they perhaps underestimate his distinctly North American sensibility. Jensen's multiculturalism feels less like tourist appropriation than genuine synthesis—the sound of someone who's lived these influences rather than merely sampling them.
Minor quibbles aside—the fade-out feels slightly abrupt, and one wishes for perhaps thirty seconds more of this delicious musical conversation—"Boum Boum Boum" confirms Jensen's position as one of Canada's most underrated musical treasures. It's a song that rewards both casual listening and deeper investigation, the kind of earworm that burrows into consciousness and refuses to leave.
At a time when so much contemporary music feels calculated for algorithmic consumption, Jensen and Bïa have crafted something refreshingly human: a song about the simple joy of moving together, of finding common ground in shared rhythm. That such modest ambitions should feel so revolutionary speaks volumes about our current musical moment.
Essential listening for admirers of sophisticated pop songcraft and anyone seeking proof that romance isn't entirely dead in contemporary music.