L'ENCRE DES VOIX SECRETES

Patricia Dallio is ex-keyboarder of Art Zoyd and went solo in the 2000s. She was originally a pianist but took a more electronic direction that also dominates her solo albums as far as I know them. In fact, her later work seems to be well in line with how Art Zoyd was developing at the time, so I wouldn't suspect that the split was because of big musical differences (I don't know actually). In fact she is active to this day; her most recent album at the time of writing this is a 2020 live album but the later stuff is not currently listed on PA.

L'encre des voix secretes is something of a sampling feast. The title, "The ink of the secret voices", hints at the fact that spoken word is used a lot, if often deconstructed, manipulated, newly put together in musical, often rhythmic ways, but so that the words can still be recognised and followed, neither as a lead nor as a background, rather as another equally important instrument in the ensemble. However, this is still clearly a keyboarder's album with some piano and a lot of electronic keyboards on top of the rich use of sampled sounds. The mood on the album is not too far away from much of what Art Zoyd have done; it is definitely on the darker side of things with a densely overgrown secret garden atmosphere.

One could put this album in the experimental avantgarde electronic category. I listen to a lot of such music, and tend to categorise it between the poles "meditative" and "busy". This work is pretty much half way between them. There is certainly quite a bit of movement and business here, however the sound spectrum is rather transparent with some slower and more contemplative parts, and we are not exposed to something of a chaotic noise attack. I have characterised one of Art Zoyd's 2000s albums as "ice mountains in the distance". The music of Patricia Dallio surely comes a bit closer to the listener, but it still has an intellectual and elusive feel to it.

Sequencing and rhythm are important throughout the album. Sound- and dynamic-wise it has quite a variety on offer, although the general style and approach are pretty homogeneous, and most tracks have a quite repetitive spine. What is different from Art Zoyd's later approach is that the tracks are generally shorter and compositions are more "local" with not much of an overarching thread (Art Zoyd has done short tracks as well, e.g., on Eyecatcher, but most of these are not meant to stand on their own, rather to be integrated in the overall structure). In fact this is the only thing I find to criticise about this fascinating album, namely that the 17 tracks (67 minutes overall) feel a bit randomly put together. Every track in itself is good stuff but I don't get much of a logic regarding how one follows the other, which makes the album less striking in its overall effect than Art Zoyd's best work. It's a grower though. I wasn't very impressed when I heard it the first time, but I discover more an more on it. Besides Art Zoyd fans who will surely appreciate this, I recommend this to people interested in experimental electronic music. I currently give it 3.8 stars but it's on a positive trajectory.