Where I work on the academy grounds, there is an elementary school courtyard right behind my office. I'm one of those sicko's who doesn't really mind the vivid and screeching screams of playing children 'cos at least it means life which one doesn't hear often during work. If you have ever worked in sterile business parks, where concrete strangles an silences any natural form of life, you will know that youthfull sounds are eerily absent. I once again embrace something as a given.
On hearing reptitive sounds from outside, I curiously gaze out and see 4 little girls in a playhut, taunting 2 boys below them by singing at them in a nagging she-devilish chior of squeeky nah-nah's. One boy tries to get into the playhut by climbing up the smooth metal slide, but one girl kicks him readily in the face and he warily slides down to ground level. 1-0 to girls. The boy, euphoric from the adrenaline that the kick gave him, tries again with a cheeky smile yet fails over and over as he slips and trips. He hasn't found out yet that the metal slide has secretely teamed up with the girls. Iron-y.
After a lousy day at work yesterday and a seriously narky mood (plus it wasn't sunny), I found Colleen's new album 'Les Ondes Silencieuses' on my doormat. I felt joy rising upwards instantly, endorphins flowing back to life. wah, vraiment merci b'coup pour cette joie Cecile!!
Quick words on first impression; The sound of this album is immensly and intensely baroque and the sleevenotes reveal the sincere sources; various ancient instruments have been used such as the Viola da gamba and the Spinet harpsichord. Colleen still makes it loop with perfect splendour, but does not let the loops take over control as much as they did on her previous albums. She has created new patterns of repetition which are maze-like intricate, swooning and reveal themselves in the shape of subtle sounds, like the distant buzzing of dragonflies and bumblebees that comes closer. Oh yes insect talk, isn't that something precious, alike any figural elaboration that I'm likely to follow. Sometimes a cat comes around, tipoeing in the high grass in search of little animals to chase untill a rain of melancholic confetti sprinkles down. And that's when I feel it softly creeping into my nerves, soothing them to inner peace. Instant meditation prepackaged for audioplay, one press away from bliss. This is in fact a certain vague vow to take this with me everywhere I go, relieving me from my moving unrest. Joana; this is a perfect soundtrack to nightly walks of no end, for clearing up thoughts and rearranging others.
As release date is only halfway May, here a few gems for her fans out there to enjoy...7 days only tho'...
Colleen - Blue Sands
Colleen - Le Bateau
Colleen - Echoes and Coral (crystal glasses used as minimal sounds, such beauty)
Aside; the gorgeous black&white comic artwork is again made by Ikers Pozio, in the same vein as his artwork for the 'The Golden Morning Breaks' album. It kinda reminds me of Charles Burns' and Cire's art, but with a sweeter fantasy outline inserted. Testified below. Wow.
and another, used for a gig;
be well.
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