Oh hell, describe a kind of Gothic, Dark Folk album that is primarily instrumental and viola-led.
Oh hell, describe a kind of Gothic, Dark Folk album that is primarily instrumental and viola-led.
Colleen – Les Ondes Silencieuses
http://www.theleaflabel.com/ http://www.konkurrent.nl/
Oh hell, describe a kind of Gothic, Dark Folk album that is primarily instrumental and viola-led. Well, I could tell you to skip reading this and go out and buy it without delay; it’s a brilliant piece of work. I’ll try to start at the beginning ad give a summary of the first few numbers.
Opening track This Place in Time is a hypnotic downward spiral whereas Le Labyrinthe switches to spinet and runs through a set of disconnected notes that somehow holds together before adopting a more coherent and pleasing structure about three minutes in. A further switch of instruments sees us regaled with clarinet and classical guitar for the very beautiful and melancholy Sun Against My Eyes. This is beginning to get like a Goth version of Young Persons Guide to The Orchestra. You get the picture.
The mood throughout is reflective, calming and very sensual, sometimes taken to almost Buddhist lengths, (Echoes & Coral or Sea of Tranquillity). There are hints of a Fin de Siecle mood; and with that in mind it’s a record you should be putting on at dusk on a summer’s evening whilst staring at you collection of antique pagan statuary. There are sonorous moments but they are lifted almost immediately from their slough of despond by the tracks following; check out Les Ondes Silencieuses followed by the magical Blue Sands for proof.
Despite its utter strangeness and cussed imperturbability, it’s a bloody enjoyable record and one that is sure to surprise you.
Words: Richard Foster.