Despite having known each other and worked together
for over ten years, James Taylor and David Brown only
officially formed Swayzak after friends urged them to
release some of their music. After a handful of very
well received EPs, the pair released their first album,
Snowboarding In Argentina, on The Medicine
Label in 1998. With this collection of minimal dub/ambient
tracks, Taylor and Brown started establishing their
blend of edgy techno pop, reaffirmed two years later
on the band’s second album, Himawari.
While the band’s first opus remained largely instrumental,
Himawari offered a more opened vision thanks
to vocal contributions from Benjamin Zephaniah, J.B.
Rose and former Opus III vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw. After
a third album depicting a more upfront side to the pair’s
musical landscape, with touches of electro-clash and
vintage synth-pop giving it a wider appeal, Swayzak
returns with a more organic and inspired sound for their
fourth album, which places them alongside the likes
of Alpinestars.
While its title is a play on word on the soundtrack
for sixties French movie Les Loups Dans La Bergerie,
composed by Serge Gainsbourg, it is actually a reference
to the Bergerie, a country house situated near Montpelier
in the South of France, where most of this album was
recorded. This is said to have influenced the pair’s
approach to their work, rejecting the laptop in favour
of analogue instruments. Once again, the pair alternate
vocal tracks, with contributions from Clair Dietrich
on Then There’s Her, Parisian Mathilde
Mallen on 8080 and The Long Night,
as well as Swayzak’s very own David Brown providing
lead vocals on Snowblind and Keep It Coming,
with fine instrumentals. The band also worked with Richard
Davis on My House, Speakeasy and the
superbly atmospheric Another Way, and plans
to build their new live set around his voice.
While remaining too clever to appeal to the masses,
Loops From The Bergerie appears nevertheless as a subtle
effort to widen the band’s audience. Hitting right
from the start with two catchy numbers, Keep It
Coming and Another Way, Swayzak build
up the atmospheric structure of the record by alternating
between sumptuous dance floor moments (My House,
Snowblind) and more laidback compositions (Jeune
Loup, Then There’s Her, The
Long Night), without at any moment losing the focus
on the overall ambience.
4.2/5 |
