Red = hot Mustard = warm Blue = leaves me cold
Why Pitchfork hasn’t reviewed this is beyond me. (Hint Hint)
I think this import has been out since October but in all fairness there appears to be very little promotion behind this record in the states no less world wide thus far.
This mystery record was a gift for my birthday and came with a background story no more detailed than “I think you will like it.”
The LP jacket protects no informative inner sleeve, there is no clue riddled insert and the only revealing text lies in small print at the bottom of the back cover. Thank goodness for the internet.
The back cover lists such luminaries as:
Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), glockenspiel
Colm O’Ciosoig, drums (My Bloody Valentine)
Kevin Shields, guitar ( My Bloody Valentine)
Martin Duffy, piano (Primal Scream)
David Roback (Mazzy Star), guitar
Lascelles Lascelle (7 Hurtz), keyboards, drums
Nathan J. Whitey (remixer / graffiti artist / journalist) bass
Keith Tenniswood ( Two Lone Swordsmen, Radioactive Man),Engineer / production
A sample from "Caribea" by Moondog on the cover “Ain’t Got no life”(a Nina Simone cover)
and a sample from “The Anomaly” by Delta T on the track "Locarno"
A French woman murmurs in her sleep as her cinematic dreams shift from wistful to eerie.
Charlotte Marionneau, a chanteuse belonging to the same home schooled spirit of CocoRosie shoots and ladders from modern day lo-fi outsider to breathless little sister of 1970’s psychedelic folk artist Brigitte Fontaine . To paint an even more detailed picture I am reminded of Kazu (Blonde Redhead) singing over the Life Aquatic Casio-score with a touch of panic attack as if scored by Bjork for Medulla.
Le Volume Courbe first and only other release was a 2001, 7” on Alan McGee’s label Poptones. Poptones is the label Alan began after he sold Creation Records in 1999. These original two tracks Harmony and Papillion De Nuit kick of this debut full length entitled “I killed my best friend”
Thanks to the encouragement of friends in high places, Charlotte a now London resident found the courage and confidence to home record (over the last several years) the rest of the songs found on I killed my best friend.
The moods shift like the atmospheric changes of space travel and from planet to planet Charlotte's song- noir grain teeters between disturbing and delightfully delicate. Her all star cheerleading squad meets band creates damaged electro-folk that will not win over every listener but their beyond cult status following raises I killed my best friend to a must own status.
Listen to a few tracks here and in the states I think this is available from Forced Exposure.
