There is something child-like about Partir.
Braille reads between the lines to dissect found sounds
and acoustic components, tear melodies apart and crush
rhythmic structures, rejecting electronic classicism
in favour of a much more unsettling template. Totally
abstract, and often difficult, this album is also strangely
inviting and poetic. The complex digital processing
forming its backbone contributes greatly to continuously
alter the atmosphere and erase influences and inspirations,
Braille isolating the content of this album and denying
outward communication. Yet, Partir is built
on incursions into the real world, with shards of voices,
songs and actual instruments perpetually crossing the
spectrum and highlighting the true humane nature of
this record.
Hailing from Toulouse, France, Braille’s first
foray into recorded territories took place on Barcelona’s
Cosmos Records, first with a couple of tracks included
on the Cosmos 2000 compilation, then with his first
album, Día Mes Año, a year later.
Listing influences ranging from My Bloody Valentine,
the Velvet Underground, New Order and Sonic
Youth to John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus or Pierre
Schaeffer, it is no surprise to find Braille on widely
experimental grounds with this record. From essence
of post-rock to alternative folktronica, Partir
always appear torn between minimal tendencies and over-layered
effects. This sometimes results in the actual compositions
feeling a bit cluttered and unhealthily anarchic, yet
it also gives this record a surprisingly human facet.
From the strident effusions of Postal and Presente
to the almost too studious jazz vapors of Recover
or the vocal fragments sprinkled over Apartamiento,
Braille appears to be searching for common particles
of sound and articulate them together. This results
in Partir feeling interestingly consistent,
if only at times a bit too linear, as if the experimental
stance was becoming the main purpose. Yet, when Braille
dares venturing into the open, as on the superb Trapecio,
the music becomes sumptuous and breathtaking.
Partir is a record that requires some attention
before it reveals its true nature, and can often be
too intimidating to confront for the un-trained ear
as it appear to sometimes lack the necessary spark to
be a truly magnificent experimental record. Braille
offers however here some interesting sonic landscapes
on which, with a bit more maturity, should develop the
most captivating of sounds.
3.8/5 |
