Vigroux, Franck – “Triste Lilas ” – [D’Autres Cordes]

Max Level   8/19/2006   A Library, CD

A complex work that starts bleak and stays there. Turntables, electronics, harp, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals are the sounds we hear. Vigroux teamed with various members of the ensemble to compose the music. He did the lyrics with help from vocalist Jen Priddle, who sings/recites in English; there is also male narration (by guitarist Marc Ducret?), in Francais. This CD is a production marvel, but indescribable in terms of musical genre: rock, noise, modern avant-garde, and ambient styles come and go. A single song might have, for example, fuzz guitar, plinky harp lines, drums far off in the distance, and woozy turntables beneath a spot of deadpan narration. Part three of the “Lilas” trilogy, a work described as “the story of a fugitive lost in a blood-red continent”. Doubtful that’s meant to be taken literally, as the continent in question surely must include the human mind and heart, where many of us are fugitives and/or lost. One of Priddle’s recitations: “Each time the sky is clouded over and there are no shadows, it reminds me of… nothing. I like that.” I think I know what she means.