‘Melodium never plays live’ announces the
Autres Directions website. Listening to the latest offering
from Laurent Girard, it is certainly a shame to see
his beautifully complex and extremely detailed blend
of acoustic-infused electronica confined to the realm
of recorded music, and one is left dreaming of what
it would be like to suddenly animate these fragile mobiles.
The first signs of Melodium began to appear at the turn
of the century, slowly infiltrating the electronic scene
with a couple of seven inch singles published on Static
Caravan between 1999 and 2001, and a debut album, Quietnoisearea,
released on Disasters By Choice that same year. More
EPs and compilation appearances followed on labels such
as Active Suspension and Grounded Records, leading to
a second album, A Possible Way Of Spending Time
(Peter I’m Flying, 2002). By the time Girard released
his third album, A Slight Difference In The Air
Pressure (Disasters By Choice, 2003), he had already
firmly established his sound and appeared more assured
with each record. That same year, Melodium teamed up
with French web label Autres Directions In Music to
publish a nine-track, download-only EP, Parthenay,
and recorded his fourth album, Anaemia, released
on American label Audiodregs.
With La Tête Qui Flotte, first full CD
released from Autres Directions, Melodium abandons the
slightly dark tones of Anaemia to explore once
again an incredibly varied and pertinent sonic palette,
which incorporates acoustic and classical guitars, found
sounds, flutes, xylophone, electronics, harps, melodica,
and for the first time, vocals. Putting himself in the
limelight on three songs (Hellomusic, Kill
Me With A Smile and La Fin De Tout), Girard
also relies on contributions from his friend and Autres
Directions artist Dudley (Les Psychotropes Sont
Mes Amis, Puis Mes Ennemis and Le Creux Est
Ma Matière Première) and his niece
Laïs-Salomé Massoussi (La Chanson De
Laïs-Salomé) while his girlfriend makes
a discreet apparition at the end of La Fin De Tout.
Assembling his precise little vignettes with infinite
care, Laurent Girard builds here a series of evocative
pieces, each with a specific tone, yet all intricately
related. If this album denotes a slight change of direction,
Melodium builds up on previous recordings and cleverly
adjusts his soundscapes. Although very sophisticated,
his music often appears deceptively simple and straight-forward,
and the pop shine given to some of these compositions
helps making this is most accessible record to date.
4.3/5 |
