Marsen Jules - Les Fleurs (City Centre Offices, 2006)

1 Œillet Sauvage (6:13)
2 La Digitale Pourpre (4:42)
3 Coeur Saignant (4:33)
4 Datura (6:24)
5 Anémone (3:51)
6 Gueule De Loup (6:13)
7 Coquelicot (5:25)
8 Œillet En Delta (14:30)

Le prolifique Marsen Jules continue de développer son oeuvre en donnant une suite au formidable Herbstlaub, son premier album paru en 2005 sur City-Centre-Offices après les 2 albums mis en ligne par le netlabel Autoplate.

Si Marsen Jules se plait à prêter une connotation francophile à ce nouvel album baptisé Les Fleurs sur lequel les 8 morceaux portent un nom... De fleurs en français, c’est probablement par référence à une certaine esthétique inspirée par le début du siècle, car on imagine aisément que l’allemand ait été marqué par l’œuvre de poètes romantiques et d’Eric Satie. On retrouve ici cette même propension à tendre vers l’abstraction, à tisser des mélodies contemplatives qui incitent à l’oisiveté et la méditation, à la divagation des pensées, à l’apesanteur de l’âme. La musique de Marsen Jules s’étire au gré des vagues doucement mélancoliques extraites de son laptop et d’une guitare gentiment triturée, juste accompagnées sporadiquement de quelques notes de harpes célestes. Encore plus éthérés que ses précédents albums, Les Fleurs permet à l’allemand de s’affranchir un peu plus encore du format pour se concentrer sur les ambiances. A écouter dans le calme le plus absolu, le coeur ouvert et la raison en vacance.

Autres Directions in Music

Following on from the shrouded autumn loveliness of Marsen Jules' debut album 'Herbstlaub', second album 'Les Fleurs' now finds the artist throwing open the windows and welcoming in the scent of spring. Opening through the beautiful chimes of 'Aeillet Sauvage', Jules allows a diffused soundscape to slowly bloom - enveloping the listener in a miasma of creamy vibraphone-bruised resonance that is neither overpowering nor sleight. Bolstered by the introduction of genuine instrumentation, Jules seems to have discovered a more outlandish side to his personality, with the thrumming percussion of 'La Digitale Poupre' and sonorous bass of 'Coquelicot' both exhibiting a more pronounced willingness to firm up the tacit reference points in his work. Whilst comparisons can be readily drawn with the likes of Harold Budd, Max Richter, Avro Part and even William Basinski, Marsen Jules is nonetheless utterly unique - mixing his evident love of skewed compositions with a real ear for melody. The aural equivalent of catching sight of something on a sunny day from the corner of your eye, 'Les Fleurs' shreds its source material then scatters it to the wind - creating a sound that is at once calming without becoming soporific or exhilarating without veering towards the breathless. Managing to introduce lashing of strings for 'Coeur Saignant' and not call upon the clichéd notions of cheap orchestration or dreaded 'soundtrack to an imagery film...' reference, Jules demands a wider audience for his work than the more closed-gate aspects of the leftfield sometimes allow, closing the album with 'Aeillet En Delta' wherein a honeyed breed of blunted ambience brings down the curtain in considerable style. If the summer is half as good as this musical spring, we're in for a scorcher. Essential purchase.

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Swod - Sekunden (City Centre Offices, 2007)

A1		Montauk
A2		Ja
A3		Deer
A4		Sekunden
B1		Exit
B2		Insects
B3		Belgien
B4		Frost
B5		Patinage

It seems like we've had to endure an awfully long wait since Swod's debut album "Gehen" came into our lives, but finally Oliver Doerell and Stephan Wohrmann have returned with Sekunden, a second instalment in the duo's ongoing exploration of piano and cinematic scores. This time the Swod sound has expanded to incorporate a more pronounced usage of acoustic drums, bass and even guitar. Fear not however, the nucleus of florid piano elegance and subtle electronic manipulation is still the pervasive element of Wohrmann and Doerell's work, yet this is no Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto-type affair. Rather than specialising in pristine digital dissections of the instrument, Swod fashion a far more human-sounding set of compositions, with a clear jazz influence informing the rhythmic shifts in the album. 'Ja' serves as a fine early example of this, bristling with minute digital beats, velvetty acoustic bass and tidal undercurrents of drone. At its most experimental the album morphs into melodic soundscaping, as on the windswept melancholy of the title track, yet even in these more abstract moments the two musicians manage to come off sounding grounded in an artful, musicianly discipline. In its final third Sekunden seems to move up a gear, launching into the romanticism and expressive keystrokes of 'Belgien', before the pulsing cinematic motifs of 'Frost' carry us onto the wonderful 'Patinage'. It's classic Swod material, yet finds them reaching towards the next level, achieving a kind of urgency and melodic lyricism hitherto untapped by the duo. Required listening and quite wonderful, as you'd imagine.

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