NOA

Noa

Zeuhl

3.68 | 19 ratings

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One of many Zeuhl-ish groups of this era that came and went in the blink of an eye. Quite an avant-garde effort this, comibining free jazz, zeuhl tropes, and chaos.

Catastrophe is a good description of the first track. A minute of deliberately badly played flute and other instruments before Repos Blanc which utilises lyricless vocals in Zeuhl style over a slow suspenseful baseline. Not a huge amount to remember about these two tracks.

Tape Tape starts with chanty vocals in French, building suspense again with cymbals, flute and clarinet but at a slightly faster pace. It continues the same throughout most of the track, fairly melancholy but energetic in parts.

Pellerin is very interesting, starting with a short noted 'plinky-plonk' intro mainly through a xylophone. Soon though it slows right down into a bass dirge that sounds stuck in mud. Eventually there is some very nice flute playing over the top of this. This goes on for most of the track before some very chaotic cacophonic free play for the final minute.

L'Oiseau Fou is one of the jazzier tracks, and the vocalist shows off her skills the most here too. Good interplay between saxophone and flute. The first track I would happily listen to again to be honest.

The final track is the showpiece 12 minutes of Le Mer. Slow and atmospheric, and again incredible vocals (this time more soothing than scatty). Saxophone section two minutes in also very good. Following this it speeds up with a jazzy Zeuhl like drumming setting the pace. Half way through there's a bit of fun chaos with the xylophone. The final half of the track is some cool fast paced free jazz. The best track on the album by far.

Recommended for fans and collectors of the avant-garde and free jazz. Not entirely my cup of tea though, would only be interested in the last two tracks again, so no more than 2.5 stars for me.

bartymj | 2/5 | 2021-10-20

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