Reviews

Chain D.L.K.

This new digital-only release by Audiobulb is from a French composer, Laurent Girard, at the threshold between pop and ambient music. This new release is presented as constructed using different background noises from various media as sound sources and seems a constructed release as the eleven track are named from "int1" to "int6" with five interlude from "sn1" to "sn6".

A track as "int1" introduces the listener into the framework of this release: the noise are used to generate a background while the synth develops a typical ambient structure while "sn1" contradicts the premises of this review: this five tracks are the core of this release as they are longer and whose samples are placed to generate a sort of narrative. So, "int2" is a gentle piano track introducing "sn2" whose editing underline the rhythmic element. The notes of "int3" are a meditation which introduces the even stronger rhythmic structures of "sn3". The quiet guitar of "int4" influences the reception of "sn4" that sounds as an almost techno tune. The almost vintage sound of "int5" is mirrored by the more classical avant-garde mood of "sn5". The drone of "int6" close this release in an almost canonical way.

An incredibly enjoyable release even if it doesn't use any particular pop form but the idea of using the interludes to isolate the most experimental tracks is able to balance complexity and simplicity. Recommended.

4/5 stars

Beach Sloth

Constructing lovely pop songs out of found sounds, Melodium’s “Luminol” teems with life. Over the course of the album he reveals a true ear for melody, which he creates out of the sparest of materials. This self-imposed minimalism results in a celebration of sorts, of the small ignored sounds in the world and how beautiful they can truly be. By doing this Melodium creates songs unencumbered by overproduction. Rather, he takes a microscope to the world and shares what he sees.

“int1” begins things off with a delicate balance of piano, glitch, and elegant drone. Rather gorgeous the sound has a sense of mystery to it. A strange groove emerges from the playful nature of “sn1”. Piano returns to the spaciousness of “int2” where everything seems to be constantly moving. Bizarrely funky “sn2” veers in and out of grooves almost as if by accident. Contemplative in tone is the rather gentle work of “int3” whose scrapings reveals a sense of hesitancy. Nearly an ambient drone at first the duality of “sn3” results in a piece that truly has a funhouse of mirrors sense of spirit to it. By far the highlight is the reflective “int4” whose sense of tragedy is palpable. Classically leaning is the elegance of “int5”. Giving the album a naturalistic close is the acoustic guitar lead “int6”.

Melodium’s “Luminol” asks the listener to pay attention and learn to truly appreciate their surroundings, for music is truly everywhere.

Foreign Accents

On Luminol, Melodium (electronic musician and sound artist Laurent Girard) crafts downtempo electronica brimming with mysterious charm out of a sound collage of field-recorded mechanical noise and nature ambience. Radio hums and television chatter keep a human element intact as much as the melodies and rhythms that arise out of the controlled din. A gander at the techno-influenced vibes of “sn 4” will reveal how Girard brilliantly schools us on how to make a percussive, minimalist soundscape with the unlikeliest of materials. Perhaps the most concisely satisfying example of Audiobulb‘s manifesto of showcasing immersively abstract and playful sound design yet.

Conjoining Currents: Sound collage, Electronica, Field-recording, Glitch, Autistici

100% Bandcamp

En attendant sa nouvelle parution pour audiodregs, Low Gravity, Melodium signe sur le micro label Audiobulb un album d’ambient music dans lequel les sons capturés occupent un place centrale.

Au programme donc, Fields recordings, extraits de films, d’émissions de télévision ou de radio passés à la mouillette par Laurent Girard et associés à des notes de piano et de guitares éparses. Le résultat donne 11 compositions abstraites, expérimentales (à l’image de la pochette du disque) et assez mélancoliques, par moment évocatrices d’images un peu glauques dans un ensemble qui s’écoutera malgré tout sans la moindre difficulté.

Music Won't Save You

Da qualche tempo a questa parte, Laurent Girard ha scompaginato del tessere del giocoso puzzle folk-tronico variamente ricombinato dall’inizio del secolo sotto l’alias Melodium. Dalla scoperta della scrittura pop alle divagazioni ambientali, fino alle incongrue derive sintetiche dei tempi più recenti, l’artista francese si è via via affrancato dall’immagine di solo intarsiatore di suoni prodotti da tastiere giocattolo.

Il suo ultimo lavoro “Luminol”, ancorché pienamente annoverabile nel lato ambientale della ricerca sonora di Girard, ne amplifica in maniera significativa il raggio d’azione, nel senso di un soundscaping elaborato a partire da fonti estemporanee quali frammenti di film o trasmissioni radiotelevisive, oltre che da più canonici field recordings. Opportunamente rielaborate e, a tratti, innestate su minuti loop armonici acustici, quelle fonti diventano istantanee di un paesaggio sonoro ordinario, osservato attraverso filtri tali da fornirne una prospettiva del tutto peculiare, definita ora da semplici rumori di fondo (“sn1”, “sn5”), ora da iterazioni di frequenze sature(“int1”, “sn4”).

L’impronta elettro-acustica di Girard torna comunque a manifestarsi compiutamente sotto forma di semplici accordi morbidamente risuonanti (“int2”, “int5”), che riconducono l’esperienza di “Luminol” nell’alveo della ricerca condotta dall’artista francese, nell’occasione applicata a una quotidianità auditiva che rivela sfumature nascoste, amplificate da una dimensione elettro-acustica aliena(nte).

Indie Rock Mag

Pour sa nouvelle sortie chez Audiobulb, à la cover bleutée comme le fameux composé chimiluminescent servant à détecter les traces de sang qui lui donne son nom, Laurent Girard choisit de faire naître les mélodies du bruit ambiant, voire de laisser s’épanouir au premier plan field recordings et autres captations de parasites analogiques amalgamés en fantasmagories abstraites.

Enregistré en 2012/2013 mais gardé jusqu’ici dans les tiroirs par le prolifique Angevin dont on vantait encore il y a deux ans les labyrinthes somatiques de l’ambitieux Taramae, Luminol revient à une forme nettement plus minimale et resserrée. Des vignettes de 2 à 4 minutes qui n’en présentent pas moins les mêmes qualités organiques, à commencer par les beats et autres pulsations de sons trouvés dont les textures évoquent respirations, frottements, battements cardiaques, bruits de pas sur l’asphalte (on imagine que bien souvent, c’en est) ou foulées en terrain mouvant.

Au gré de la série sn, cette rythmique est prépondérante et tend vers l’abstraction samplée d’un Matthew Herbert (sn 2, ou sn 4 avec ses allures de techno dadaïste lorgnant sur les vieux Mouse on Mars) sur fond d’échantillonnage naturaliste (éléments, chants d’oiseaux, brouhaha urbain...), de crépitements étranges, de bourdonnements mystiques et de voix déformées, alors que celle des int, alternant en format plus court avec ces instrumentaux intrigants, voit s’extirper de ce tapis de cliquetis mouvants le genre de micro-mélodies aux rêveries tantôt carillonnantes (int 1 et 5), tristounettes (int 2 et 3) ou les deux à la fois (int 4) qui ont fait le charme de la plupart des sorties du Français ces 15 dernières années.

Piano préparé, idiophones en écho, claviers spleenétiques ou guitare bucolique se frottent ainsi au bruit du vent, de l’eau ou de la circulation pour évoquer cette bulle de solitude parfois délectable ou mélancolique qui nous suit partout, de la grisaille des villes aux retraites verdoyantes, samba sous un crâne (sn 5) ou confrontation à cette fuite du temps qui rend notre environnement presque intangible et si distant parfois (int 6 et son crescendo drone désincarné qui clôt l’album sur une touche d’anxiété rampante).