Forever Pavot — Rhapsode
■ Móda je to, co vyjde z módy. Francouzský "bratranec" Jacco Gardnera, oddaný fanoušek průkopníků, jakými jsou Ennio Morricone, John Barry a Jean–Claude Vannier, hraje tady psychedelicky a filmově. Nálada je podpořena i tím, že je v permanenci Farfisa organ a wah–wah pedal.
Location: Paris, France
Album release: November 25, 2014
Record Label: Born Bad Records (LP)
Duration: 39:28
Tracks:
01. Electric Mami 4:08
02. Miguel El Salam 5:03
03. Joe & Rose 3:10
04. Rhapsode 1:53
05. Les naufragés de Nieul 2:21
06. La Rabla 3:55
07. Le passeur d'armes 3:51
08. Les cigognes nénuphars 4:28
09. Ivresse de pacotille 2:40
10. Green Nap 1:13
11. Magic Helicopter 2:58
12. The Sound Of Chehery Bell 3:48
■ Written by Emile Sornin
Credits:
■ Benjamin Glibert Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Mixing
■ Catherine Hershey Cover Art, Graphics, Vocals
■ Emile Sornin Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation, Producer, Vocals
REVIEW
BY FRANCOIS DECLERCQ, NOVEMBER 26, 2014, 3:20 PM; SCORE: ■■■■■□
■ Psychedelic music is almost 50 years old, yet somehow there is still a thriving scene and there are still bands and musicians out there that manage to make it sound as fresh as it did back in the Summer of Love. Forever Pavot do just that. Emile Sornin is the creative force behind this band, a wannabe composer, orchestrator of sound. He believes in creating new sounds via old ones, as opposed to the more conventional approach of creating old sounds from new ones, or simply trying to imitate the past.
Sornin finds his inspiration in the film scores of the 60s, especially those of Ennio Morricone and Francis Lai. Purging also from progressive rock, jazz and Turkish psychedelia, Sornin really manages to create his own unique melting pot, unleashing music that ultimately feels just as retro as it does contemporary.
■ Some may simply dismiss this as another attempt to recreate St. Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour, but those who do so would totally miss the point. The orchestration creates a truly visual experience, it’s cinematography via pop music. And I believe this is where the true psychedelic nature of Forever Pavot lies. Rather than the Beatles, Rhapsode feels more like The Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed. On that album, The Moody Blues played with the ideas of film scores from the 1950s and 60s, those you’d expect in a rom com staring Doris Day and one of Hollywood’s many charmers, but they infused this with the modern sounds of the 60s, creating a vivid juxtaposition between the everyday world of conventionalism and the trippy, somewhat dangerous, alternative. Forever Pavot do the same, but the other way round. They take the pop sensibilities that have somewhat become a norm to us, and mix them with an alternative strand of cinema score.
■ The Turkish influence is heavy throughout Rhapsode. A bit like Swedish psychedelic rockers Goat, Sornin manages to blend Arabic stylings with Western pop and rock. This allows the listener to travel from the happy peaceful meadows of Rhapsode‘s opener “Electric Mami” to the exotic landscapes of “Miguel El Salam”. There’s a whole section of the latter that takes the film scores of Morricone and transports them to an Arabic setting, creating a piece of music that wouldn’t be out of place in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
■ There is something pleasantly French about Rhapsode too. You sense echoes of Gainsbourg and other influential artists, especially on songs like “Joe & Rose” or “Les cigognes nenuphares”. The constant switch between English and French lyrics offers up some interesting diversity, creating a plethora of worlds and landscape to escape to. There are some more electronic inspired moments, that remind one of Belbury Poly’s The Belbury Tales, see “Les naufragés de nieul” or “Magic Helicopter”.
■ Rhapsode is a great success and a truly interesting debut album from an artist who must have a bright future ahead of him. However, do not expect Sornin to stick to the sounds on display here. The punk turned producer turned pop star turned folkster has already hinted that he hates to restrict himself to a single genre and that he will always perform the music he wants to make at that given time. So who knows what to expect next, I’m not entirely sure Sornin knows himself. Rhapsode is a true grower and gets better with each and every listen, and is another great addition to the recent psychedelic boom. :: http://www.therealmusic.net/
■ "Du rock psychédélique avec clavecin, guitares fuzz, orgue Farfisa et pédale wah–wah, comme on en faisant en France (Jean–Claude Vannier), en Italie (Ennio Morricone) et en Angleterre (John Barry) a la fin des 60s. Délicieux." (source: www.telerama.fr )
Un album qui reçoit beaucoup d'éloges, perso, je n'accroche pas vraiment.
Bandcamp: http://foreverpavot.bandcamp.com/
Label: http://shop.bornbadrecords.net/
Review
■ “Fashion is what goes out of fashion,” Cocteau used to say. Although he died without having been able to listen to the first Forever Pavot album, we must grant the poet the gift of prophecy: the classical opposition between past and future is completely stupid. On these grounds, Forever Pavot has done honorably — create new things with old ideas in mind. One is tempted to describe Emile Sornin, Forever Pavot's leader, as an expert in demolishing walls. His got his training in the now–defunct group Arun Tazieff, where he developed techniques akin to French film composer François de Roubaix: dreaming his songs, fiddling with them track by track, stacking up sound upon sound, rehabilitating his harpsichord in this narrow world that we call pop music. Sornin's output is discreet, yet rather noisy. Fuzz guitars, wild Farfisa, bass lines mixed in the Bertrand Burgalat tradition, flutes playing, etc. There are the sounds of horseback–riding on "Miguel El Salam," "Rhapsode" has flashes of a huge indoor Western being shot by the ORTF ('60s/'70s French Broadcasting Authority TV), and songs such as "Electric Mami" sound like "Strawberry Fields Forever" sung by The Zombies. The name "Forever Pavot" “...started as a joke. One day I read too fast 'flower power' poorly–written on a school pencil case. It made me laugh,” said Emile. As a fan of jazz programming and Turkish psych, he also shoots videos for others (Disclosure, Dizzee Rascal, etc.) and proves at every moment that appearances are often misleading. “I feel a bit like Stereolab or Broadcast, artists who draw from the past to make something new. Ten years ago or so, I was doing hardcore punk, then I did chiptune, pop, garage/folk, recorded on K7, and now things inspired from '60s movie music... the only guideline are my desires. Nobody will be able to get in my way if I want to make a reggae album in three years or an album of French songs. Because I'm the one who decides.” :: http://www.forcedexposure.com/ © Forever Pavot © FX Richard
____________________________________________________________
Forever Pavot — Rhapsode
■ Móda je to, co vyjde z módy. Francouzský "bratranec" Jacco Gardnera, oddaný fanoušek průkopníků, jakými jsou Ennio Morricone, John Barry a Jean–Claude Vannier, hraje tady psychedelicky a filmově. Nálada je podpořena i tím, že je v permanenci Farfisa organ a wah–wah pedal.
Location: Paris, France
Album release: November 25, 2014
Record Label: Born Bad Records (LP)
Duration: 39:28
Tracks:
01. Electric Mami 4:08
02. Miguel El Salam 5:03
03. Joe & Rose 3:10
04. Rhapsode 1:53
05. Les naufragés de Nieul 2:21
06. La Rabla 3:55
07. Le passeur d'armes 3:51
08. Les cigognes nénuphars 4:28
09. Ivresse de pacotille 2:40
10. Green Nap 1:13
11. Magic Helicopter 2:58
12. The Sound Of Chehery Bell 3:48
■ Written by Emile Sornin
Credits:
■ Benjamin Glibert Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Mixing
■ Catherine Hershey Cover Art, Graphics, Vocals
■ Emile Sornin Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation, Producer, Vocals
REVIEW
BY FRANCOIS DECLERCQ, NOVEMBER 26, 2014, 3:20 PM; SCORE: ■■■■■□
■ Psychedelic music is almost 50 years old, yet somehow there is still a thriving scene and there are still bands and musicians out there that manage to make it sound as fresh as it did back in the Summer of Love. Forever Pavot do just that. Emile Sornin is the creative force behind this band, a wannabe composer, orchestrator of sound. He believes in creating new sounds via old ones, as opposed to the more conventional approach of creating old sounds from new ones, or simply trying to imitate the past.
Sornin finds his inspiration in the film scores of the 60s, especially those of Ennio Morricone and Francis Lai. Purging also from progressive rock, jazz and Turkish psychedelia, Sornin really manages to create his own unique melting pot, unleashing music that ultimately feels just as retro as it does contemporary.
■ Some may simply dismiss this as another attempt to recreate St. Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour, but those who do so would totally miss the point. The orchestration creates a truly visual experience, it’s cinematography via pop music. And I believe this is where the true psychedelic nature of Forever Pavot lies. Rather than the Beatles, Rhapsode feels more like The Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed. On that album, The Moody Blues played with the ideas of film scores from the 1950s and 60s, those you’d expect in a rom com staring Doris Day and one of Hollywood’s many charmers, but they infused this with the modern sounds of the 60s, creating a vivid juxtaposition between the everyday world of conventionalism and the trippy, somewhat dangerous, alternative. Forever Pavot do the same, but the other way round. They take the pop sensibilities that have somewhat become a norm to us, and mix them with an alternative strand of cinema score.
■ The Turkish influence is heavy throughout Rhapsode. A bit like Swedish psychedelic rockers Goat, Sornin manages to blend Arabic stylings with Western pop and rock. This allows the listener to travel from the happy peaceful meadows of Rhapsode‘s opener “Electric Mami” to the exotic landscapes of “Miguel El Salam”. There’s a whole section of the latter that takes the film scores of Morricone and transports them to an Arabic setting, creating a piece of music that wouldn’t be out of place in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
■ There is something pleasantly French about Rhapsode too. You sense echoes of Gainsbourg and other influential artists, especially on songs like “Joe & Rose” or “Les cigognes nenuphares”. The constant switch between English and French lyrics offers up some interesting diversity, creating a plethora of worlds and landscape to escape to. There are some more electronic inspired moments, that remind one of Belbury Poly’s The Belbury Tales, see “Les naufragés de nieul” or “Magic Helicopter”.
■ Rhapsode is a great success and a truly interesting debut album from an artist who must have a bright future ahead of him. However, do not expect Sornin to stick to the sounds on display here. The punk turned producer turned pop star turned folkster has already hinted that he hates to restrict himself to a single genre and that he will always perform the music he wants to make at that given time. So who knows what to expect next, I’m not entirely sure Sornin knows himself. Rhapsode is a true grower and gets better with each and every listen, and is another great addition to the recent psychedelic boom. :: http://www.therealmusic.net/
■ "Du rock psychédélique avec clavecin, guitares fuzz, orgue Farfisa et pédale wah–wah, comme on en faisant en France (Jean–Claude Vannier), en Italie (Ennio Morricone) et en Angleterre (John Barry) a la fin des 60s. Délicieux." (source: www.telerama.fr )
Un album qui reçoit beaucoup d'éloges, perso, je n'accroche pas vraiment.
Bandcamp: http://foreverpavot.bandcamp.com/
Label: http://shop.bornbadrecords.net/
Review
■ “Fashion is what goes out of fashion,” Cocteau used to say. Although he died without having been able to listen to the first Forever Pavot album, we must grant the poet the gift of prophecy: the classical opposition between past and future is completely stupid. On these grounds, Forever Pavot has done honorably — create new things with old ideas in mind. One is tempted to describe Emile Sornin, Forever Pavot's leader, as an expert in demolishing walls. His got his training in the now–defunct group Arun Tazieff, where he developed techniques akin to French film composer François de Roubaix: dreaming his songs, fiddling with them track by track, stacking up sound upon sound, rehabilitating his harpsichord in this narrow world that we call pop music. Sornin's output is discreet, yet rather noisy. Fuzz guitars, wild Farfisa, bass lines mixed in the Bertrand Burgalat tradition, flutes playing, etc. There are the sounds of horseback–riding on "Miguel El Salam," "Rhapsode" has flashes of a huge indoor Western being shot by the ORTF ('60s/'70s French Broadcasting Authority TV), and songs such as "Electric Mami" sound like "Strawberry Fields Forever" sung by The Zombies. The name "Forever Pavot" “...started as a joke. One day I read too fast 'flower power' poorly–written on a school pencil case. It made me laugh,” said Emile. As a fan of jazz programming and Turkish psych, he also shoots videos for others (Disclosure, Dizzee Rascal, etc.) and proves at every moment that appearances are often misleading. “I feel a bit like Stereolab or Broadcast, artists who draw from the past to make something new. Ten years ago or so, I was doing hardcore punk, then I did chiptune, pop, garage/folk, recorded on K7, and now things inspired from '60s movie music... the only guideline are my desires. Nobody will be able to get in my way if I want to make a reggae album in three years or an album of French songs. Because I'm the one who decides.” :: http://www.forcedexposure.com/ © Forever Pavot © FX Richard
____________________________________________________________