Label : Prophecy Productions
Review by Andrea “Disgraced”
September and its last thoughts. Fursy Teyssier brings finally to the calm and sweet light of autumn twilight the long awaited and – by its creator – desired debut album. Thank god or whoever in its place he didn’t give up since he created the project in 2003! Now let’s make a brief prologue for those of you out there who aren’t familiar with this particular scene, born some years ago but only now coming to the attention of bigger audiences – relatively speaking, of course. Bigger audiences are always after something not even half close to the art delivered here but… you know, de gustibus. And, just to spam you with another ol’ saying, we could say that “every genre has the hero it deserves”. 😉 So, lately France has been a fantastic cauldron for these kind of bands, born in the cold and deadly riffing of extreme black metal, who chose to go beyond usual and old stereotypes still typical of many bands (see above: anyone’s free to do what he/she/they want) and not just add new elements to their music but, directly blending and mixin it in a promiscuous relationship with (dark but not necessarily) ambient, new wave and shoegaze above all. Recognizing certain soundscapes reminiscent of Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, The Cure (mostly “Disintegration” and “Wish”-era), Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain is extremely easy and pleasant. Pleasant for lovers of that kind of music of course but also for those open-minded metalheads (or simply good music-lovers, which should be the only important category) who like to sink in a music full of emotion, deeply heart-moving, that didn’t lose any aggressiveness at all but on the opposite just gained in sheer beauty.
Of course we might make a similar speech for other musical genres, even remaining inside of the metal field, that were born in the last 20 years and that bring a big handful of contaminations with them – just think of those dear, I’m sure about that, to the readers of this webzine like gothic metal, symphonic metal, and so on. But here the situation is slightly different: I still have to understand, and leave the matter open to every listener out there, if it’s the inner world of the musician(s) which serves well to the designated musical style or… or is it the music a good servant, the perfect means for the artist(s)’s emotions to come out hre into our so-called real world? Or maybe both? I don’t have an answer right now. 🙂
So let’s dive into the music of this album. Here the black metal elements are even more hidden that what did and does his friend Neige in Alcest or Teyssier himself in his other projects; one of the heaviest tracks is the long and epic “Chanson D’Automne” (Autumn Song), always walking on the edge of metal, post-rock and neo-folk. Another heavy song that will make you clap at these musicians for their skills in blending together many styles without losing a clear idea of what they want to do – you know, many would end up just creating a ridiculous mess – is the wonderful “Les Feuilles De L´Olivier” (The Leaves of the Olive). Its central part, let’s say from 2:05 on will bring you on the border of a forest together with the two children of the cover artwork (more on this later), with the darkness behind your shoulders in the shape of a soft pillow ready to take you in and the sun keeping its distance on a wasteland in front of you… but still, there’s hope. I hope most of you won’t be disappointed by the overall lack of female vocals, provided there and then by the good Audrey Hadorn, who anyway contributes with lyrics as well. Teyssier‘s vocals are very good, though he just chants out with lots of emotion and few technique but who cares? 😉 His vocals don’t reach the immense poetry of such untouchable masters like Brendan Perry or Peter Murphy but they flow very well with the music, just like they’re expected to do I guess. “Effet De Nuit” (Effect of Night) shows us a very good rythmic section with an increasing tension finding a glimpse of peace only towards the end, where the guitar finally traces space to take a little breath. Final song “Une Matinée D’Hiver” is the tiny but strong, not weak at all, well deserved light but not at the end of the usual gallery, there are no obscure and frightening galleries in this record; that light, granted by the guitars and vocals which climb on each other, is like the smile I imagine the two children of the cover will have in the end, something like, after all we made it to here, we’re alive in front a beauty that can be scary and we’re aware there’s a lot of horror going around. But, we’ll keep on going on. Before I finish my review an important note must be done, that is about the artwork and Teyssier‘s incredible talent in painting and drawing. He actually is a renowned artist also doing cover artworks for other bands but apart from that a great, great painter able to depict sceneries of calmness, innocence and sadness without looking banal or ridiculous but always with that sense of being on the edge of two worlds, and you can’t decide if and which one is better than the other. Teyssier possesses a great technique, maybe even greater than the musical one; from the depth of my ignorance, it reminds me of Renoir’s warm strokes, not to mention Turner’s light and Constable’s love for certain landscapes. At this point, just let me tell you there’s a limited edition of this album (1000 copies) that consists of CD, DVD (with Fursy Teyssier‘s award-winning short film “Tir Nan Og”) and a stunning 56 pages art book. What are you waiting for?!
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- L’Envol des Corbeaux
- L’Echappée
- Les Feuilles de l’Olivier
- Song for Mountains
- Sur le Quais
- Effet de Nuit
- Septembre Et Ses Derniéres Pensées
- Chanson d’Automne
- Svipdagr & Freyja
- Une Matinée d’Hiver
Line Up
- Fursy Teyssier – Vocals, Guitar, Bass
- Audrey Hadorn – Vocals
- Winterhalter – Drums
Links