Third in a series of collaborations released this year,
Paquet Surprise sees Greg Davis team up with
French musician Sebastien Roux. While Davis is known
for the wide scope of his work, ranging from the skilful
marriage of acoustic and electronic sounds of his earlier
releases to the more austere drone work showcased on
last year’s Somnia
or on his rolling collaborations with Keith
Fullerton Whitman, documented on Yearlong,
and the complex sonic construction and digital processing
of the recent Decisions
with Steven Hess, Sebastien Roux works primarily with
arid and minimal ambient structures. His impressive
debut album, Pillow, was released on Brooklyn-based
imprint Apestaarttje to critical acclaim at the end
of last year.
The fruit of over a year of Internet exchanges between
Davis in the US and Roux in France, Paquet Surprise
finds its roots somewhere between the pair’s respective
musical grounds. Effortlessly weaving drones, heavily
processed found sounds and digital processing with pop
and folk influences, Roux and Davis bounce ideas back
to each other, applying layer after layer of sounds
to develop a constant atmospheric flow. Here, despite
some glitches and surface noises, the soundscapes are
generally smooth and delicate, with acoustic and electric
guitars often contributing to create an ethereal backdrop
sometimes vaguely evocative of Fennesz,
on which various melodic structures grow.
Sea Grasses And Blue Sea, which opens the album,
is a wonderfully delicate and rich drone-like structure,
with intense tones giving it incredible depth. The concentration
of glitches and static noises found at the beginning
of I Am Waiting (For December), which follows,
contrasts greatly with this earlier blissful context,
but Davis and Roux soon return to more delicate structures.
Here though, the textures are more palpable, with treated
acoustic guitar and vocals swirling around each other.
Toward the end, all this disappears to make way to a
cloud of noises. Air Castle or Good Decision
follow a similar template, allowing for acoustic instrumentation
to feed on electronic interferences and develop a particular
sheen, close to that found on Davis’s own records.
With elements of angular electric guitar found floating
around treated vocals, I Never Met Her evokes
an acoustic version of Slowdive. Daybreak is
equally as enchanting; with underlying layers scintillating
over a perfectly-formed pop moment. While these two
songs prove to be the most accessible on here, Davis
and Roux still manage to deflect their respective courses
by applying some denser, darker swathes as the tracks
build up.
The flow of plants and animals depicted on the cover
reflect very much the luxuriant soundscapes and moods
found on Paquet Surprise. The title, which
translates as surprise package, also reflects on the
various layers on which this album works, with subtle
elements being revealed with each new listen. Greg Davis
and Sebastien Roux work as one here, applying elegant
sonic touches all the way through. Descending right
at the heart of the sound, they weave a dense canvas
which allows them to then build solid compositions,
experiment and explore with confidence.
4.5/5 |
