MALICORNE 2 [AKA: LE MARIAGE ANGLAIS]

Maybe I am missing the plot here, but I honestly don't hear the prog in this outing. Not that I need to - I happen to enjoy a wide variety of music from classical to hip hop, but this sophomore release by Frenck folkers Malicorne just doesn't do anything for me.

Firstly, and to address my opening accusation: Where is the prog hiding? To this listener it sounds like a slab of genuine folk music, and no matter how much these individuals excel on an acoustic guitar - play it upside down with their back teeth and a sparrow in their pocket, that is all I am hearing. Truth be told, Malicorne are a bunch of astonishingly gifted musicians who play stuff like krümhorn, electric dulcimer, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, psaltery, harmonium, mandolin, violin and something called epinette de Vosges which is a traditional picked string instrument from France. Well ooh la la - and sacre bleu all at once you may say in a feverish ecstasy!

The problem however is that I keep thinking in medieval paintings and settings. The music instantly flies me off to a dozen old Robin Hood movies with men in tights and green clothing swinging around bonfires with a half eaten ham in one hand and a laughing toothless wench in the other. Other times there is more of a royal court feel happening, as in proper ancient string instruments being picked like were you about to experience the entrance ceremony to Louis Quatorze's inner most sacred chambers. It sounds mystical and deer like a crown of jewels and gold figurines, but it still doesn't put the umph in my trousers in any way conceivable.

Oh yeah there are festive musical scenes as well. How could I ever forget? Louis obviously feels secure and laid back around you, and subsequently invites you to the in house castle ball underneath his mighty fortress of stone. There up-lit by a million golden candles you find fair ladies with huge balcony dresses and Cruella Deville hair - painted porcelain white in their faces twirling about to the music that slowly and comfortably spins around its own axis sounding like one of those musical boxes you need a key to operate. Even the individual tracks on this album sound like they have that opening salute you often see in old cinematic ball scenes, where the dancers bow for one another. That happens with the music too - this tiny ode making sure that the audience is ready for a good waltz around the castle.

If you haven't yet noticed, I am not a fan of this kind of music. It's not what I would expect finding on PA, and those sparsely scattered moments on this album - like the electric stuttering guitar hammers that lie waaaaaay in the back of the second track are not enough to persuade me out of my thermal g-string. These moments are however my favourite things about Malicorne 2, but I still won't be reaching out for it any time soon, unless I've bagged a red-headed vampire Kate Beckinsale look-alike that just loves music from her youth ie pop from the middle ages and the renaissance.

Share this MALICORNE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Guldbamsen
• Report this review (#701681)
• Buy MALICORNE music online with PA partners
• Show all MALICORNE MP3/Stream
• Go to MALICORNE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Malicorne 2 [Aka: Le Mariage Anglais] page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for MALICORNE related discussions