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Aquaserge Laisse ça être

Aquaserge — Laisse ça être (Feb. 3rd, 2017)

                Aquaserge — Laisse ça être (Feb. 3rd, 2017)Aquaserge — Laisse ça être (Feb. 3rd, 2017)★”“★   French art rock collective incorporating prog, chanson, psychedelic pop, jazz, and numerous other influences into their ever~shifting sound.
Location: Toulouse, France
Album release: Feb. 3rd, 2017
Record Label: Almost Musique/Crammed Discs
Duration:     45:32
Tracks:
1. Tour du monde     4:02
2. Virage sud     4:02
3. Tintin on est bien mon loulou     5:59
4. Si loin, si proche     8:17
5. C’est pas tout mais     5:34
6. L’ire est au rendez~vous     5:38
7. Charme d’orient     5:26
8. Les yeux fermés     6:34Fotka uživatele Ben Tais Amundssen.Long story short:
★”“★   Coded messages, anadiplosis and automatic writing, dance music grooves peppered with rhythmical & metrical twists, shades of Italian or French film music, a dense political & poetic subtext: such are the ingredients of Laisse ça être, the new album by brilliant experimental pop band AQUASERGE.
★”“★   Aquaserge has been a subterranean driving force in the international music scene, inspiring and influencing countless musicians & fans. Originally based in a farmhouse~cum~recording studio in the countryside near Toulouse, France, they operated for several years like a kind of nebula, a shifting aggregate drawing over 60 musicians in its orbit, while knitting an extended web of connections by collaborating with the likes of Tame Impala, Stereolab, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Acid Mothers Temple and Aksak Maboul, the band has now distilled down to a strong 5~piece core, which is wildly creative in the studio, powerful and exciting on the stage.
Short story long:
★”“★   Since around the making of their previous album A l’amitié (released in 2014 on Chambre404/Arista), the Aquaserge whirlpool has become a steady 5~piece band comprising
★♠•♠★  Benjamin Glibert (guitar & vocals),
★♠•♠★  Julien Gasc (keys & vocals),
★♠•♠★  Audrey Ginestet (bass & vocals),
★♠•♠★  Manon Glibert (clarinets), and drummers
★♠•♠★  Julien Chamla and/or Julien Barbagallo.
Augmented by horn players
★♠•♠★  Sebastien Cirotteau (trumpet) and
★♠•♠★  Olivier Kelchtermans (saxes),
this core quintet locked themselves in a studio for three 10~day sessions, and proceeded to collectively write new music from scratch. This was collective composition at its most spectacular. Contrasting with some of their earlier abstract and more complex works,  this time the band started from dance music grooves (afro beat, tango, funk, waltz, samba and beats with inflections ranging from Caribbean to krautrock~ish). They set out to create “as~yet~uncharted dances” (to quote a line from the lyrics for the song “Les yeux fermés”).
★”“★   Quite expectedly, they couldn’t help injecting some rhythmical & metrical twists in those dance grooves… and then proceeded to build harmonic & melodic developments on the fly, often resulting in arrangements with shades of Italian & French film music, and mustering elements from the countless sources from which Aquaserge have been drawing to create their polymorphous sound (from psych pop, free jazz, noise, to the most adventurous side of ‘60s/’70s rock: kraut to Canterbury to ZNR et al). Several of the songs were recorded in one take, with everyone (including the horns) playing together, while some others involved elaborate editing. Just like Aquaserge’s early releases, this album was entirely engineered, mixed and produced by the band. Also worth noting that, this time around, vocal duties were shared by four of the band members. 
★”“★   In the band’s creative process, the lyrics generally emerge at the end, when the pieces are already constructed. Which isn’t to say that they’re the least important element: tackling the lyrics opens a new phase of collective improvisation. Aquaserge love playing with words and they’re very good at it. Though these dimensions may be less obvious to non~French speakers, it may be interesting to explain, for example, that the lyrics for Tintin on est bien mon loulou are modelled on the children’s rhyme known as “marabout, bout de ficelle…”, i.e. the rhetorical figure called anadiplosis: each sentence begins by a word which sounds identical to the last word in the preceding sentence.
★”“★   To craft their lyrics, Aquaserge often used techniques such as automatic writing (as favoured by the Surrealists). C’est pas tout mais sounds like the monologue of a guy who opens a door and accidentally finds himself lost in the middle of a track… yet the text was first improvised by four of the band members, then edited and chopped up to create this effect.
★”“★   L’ire est au rendez~vous is another fascinating exercise: the title comes from one of the first coded messages used by the French Resistance, who broadcast them via the BBC as signals for triggering clandestine actions (most famously just prior to the Normandy landings). Aquaserge wrote a series of sentences describing the state of things in today’s France/Europe/World (the rise of populist, racist, right~wing movements, the all~pervading commodification of everything, the ravages of speculation~driven economy)… and proceeded to translate them into obscure, poetical lines, as if they were bottled messages sent to whoever is intent on resisting.
★”“★   There’s definitely a political subtext running through Aquaserge’s work, and the title of the album might possibly be an encouragement to be autonomous, to let things follow their course on a macro level, while ‘acting local’ and pursuing one’s own productive activities on a micro level. This attitude may be reflected in the enigmatic mantra~like phrase which closes the album: “Je garde un œil fermé quand j’ai les yeux ouverts. Je garde un œil ouvert quand j’ai les yeux fermés” (I keep one eye open when my eyes are closed. I keep one eye shut when my eyes are open).
★”“★   So what on earth does “Laisse ça être” exactly mean? “Laisse” is “let”… “ça” is “”that” or “it”… And “être” means “being” or “be”… Aside from the autonomist motto described above, the phrase is clearly reminiscent of the title of a famous album which started out as a film project. As it happens, the making of this Aquaserge album was also closely connected to a cinematic endeavour: before becoming a respected documentarist, filmmaker Guillaume Bordier had also lived for a while in the Aquaserge farmhouse~cum~recording studio. He used the opportunity of this new album recording to work on a film which tries to probe into the mysteries of collective artistic creation: how does a group consisting of such different individuals manage to combine their respective personalities and invent music together? All the recording sessions were documented, and will result in a movie provisionally entitled “Un Film d’Aquaserge”.
★”“★   Learning about the processes involved in creating this Aquaserge album is fascinating, but it’s the outcome which counts in the end… and the result is magnificent: while sticking to relatively simple structures, the band have managed to unleash their most maximalist inclinations and have created a brilliant piece of work. “Laisse ça être” is joyful, groovy, energetic, both rough and sophisticated, bursting with ideas and surprises.
★”“★   “Laisse ça être” will be released at the end of January 2017 by Almost Musique (France) and Crammed Discs (rest of the world). Several music videos are in the making, and will be made public in the upcoming weeks. 
★♠•♠★  Aquaserge is a phenomenally impressive live band (and have performed at events as wildly diverse as the Liverpool Psych Fest, R.I.O. Festival, Faust’s Klangbad or select Paris club Le Silencio). They will be touring throughout 2017 to present the music of “Laisse ça être” around Europe.Fotka uživatele Ben Tais Amundssen.
Review
AUTHOR: Andrew Smith, Score: ***½
★♠•♠★  Aquaserge is a fun and experimental pop super group. Its members have graced the stages with dreamy indie connoisseurs like Tame Impala, Stereolab, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Acid Mothers Temple, and Aksak Maboul. For several years, they operated more like a nebula or giant web than a band, shifting members and influences as a massive collaborative effort of over 60 musicians. The band is now a more concrete project with 5 core members: Benjamin Glibert (guitar & vocals), Julien Gasc (keys & vocals), Audrey Ginestet (bass & vocals), Manon Glibert (clarinets), and drummers Julien Chamla and Julien Barbagallo. They are wildly creative and exciting on their new work, Laisse Ça Être.
★♠•♠★  On this effort, the group locked themselves in a studio for three 10~day sessions and collectively wrote everything from scratch. But first, what does “laisse ça être” mean? Direct translation is close to “let it be”, the title of a famous album we all know that began as a film project. Similarly, this Aquaserge album was based off a cinematic endeavour. Filmmaker Guillaume Bordier, a friend and confidant to the band, wanted to try and portray the riddle of ‘what is collective artistic creation?’ Thus, all of the recording sessions were documented and filmed, and eventually will be released in the movie, “Un Film d’Aquaserge”.
★♠•♠★  This album is fun, free flowing, groovy and light~hearted. Many songs were recorded in one take, and the members themselves did all production, engineering, and mixing. The second song on the album, “Virage sud”, opens with a simple, eerie ballad. It starts to seemingly fall apart, drifting out of time just before it explodes into a joyful, energetic, and upbeat track. “Tintin on est bien mon loulou” follows suit with a driving, New Orleans funk inspired groove. Towards the end, “Charme d’orient” is one of the darker songs on the album. It has a slinky blues feel, a deep brass section backbone, and whirlwind of free~form jazz vibraphone. However, this instrumental tune will surprise you with its clever French sophistication.
★♠•♠★  Aquaserge’s anthems are pleasant and entertaining. The members have combined an insane amount of background and inspiration into this album. Dreamy pop meets free jazz, and psychedelic haze meets 60s rock & roll. With small touches in between of waltz, swing, samba, and afrobeat — think Europeans travelling to the Caribbean — Laisse Ça Être is adventuresome and relaxing, like a French short film shot on the shores of Nice.
★♠•♠★  http://spillmagazine.com/
Label: http://www.crammed.be/
Bandcamp: https://aquaserge.bandcamp.com/album/laisse-a-tre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aquasergee/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sergeaqua?lang=en
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Aquaserge Laisse ça être

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