Excerpts
Album | Ensemble (band)
It shouldn't all fit together, but it does.
French-born, Montreal-based polymath Olivier Alary's third album under the project name Ensemble begins with a chilly orchestral instrumental that eventually resolves into the beautifully-arranged waltz "Things I Forget," featuring the pretty-but-deadpan voice of guest singer Darcy Conroy. By the time the pastoral French-language duet "Les Saisons Viennent" kicks in, it seems like the album's sound and emotional tone are set, but then the change-ups start. Soon there's grinding post-rock guitars, a haunting ballad scored for voice and ambulance siren, echoes of the lush erotica of Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson, shiveringly sustained string sections, and the title track, which sounds exactly like Stereolab experimenting with chamber music orchestration. Themes of memory and loss flit through the bi-lingual lyrics, most movingly on the simply gorgeous "Imprints," on which Conroy conjures the shade of Judy Collins' experimental art-folk period circa In My Life before the song drifts away in a haze of static. An album in the truest sense, Excerpts hangs together perfectly, its disparate parts somehow melding into a harmonious and often quite beautiful whole.
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Music Review
Tin Drum
Japan (band)
| Before Night | |
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