LES POUMONS GONFLÉS

This album is for you. Regarded by many as Étron Fou Leloublan's chef-d'oeuvre, Les poumons gonflés is probably the most accessible album of Étron Fou's catalogue, and even maybe the most accessible Rock in Opposition album ever recorded.

Being the first album to be produced by Fred Frith (who even played on two pieces), and on which ÉFL would feature as a quartet (Chenevier, Mathieu, Richard, Thirion), the album was necessarily going to be different. Yes, it is different. Yes, they had evolved. But still, their instantly recognizable sound is part of the music.

On Les poumons gonflés, the "Mad Excrement" is a raconteur. Every song is a story told by a madman, but an interesting madman. Again, expect funny, crazy and twisted stories. This record also features lots of exploration. One song is close to a nursery rhyme (Pas l'sou), one is a beautiful poem by Baudelaire put into music (La Musique), another is a very short avant-garde piece (Exposition universelle. There is also an experimental song sung in English (Those Distant Waters) and a jazzy ballad sung in Italian (Io Prefero). Mimi is a song about a man who wants to conducts Mimi's "big machine" and Christine is the story of a mother who lost her son, Jean-Claude, in Marseille's train. As I said, lots of weirdness involved here.

This album is great, certainly an excellent to your collection. I would tend to say Batelages is a better album, but this album is a probably better as a starting point.

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