- Fanny Vicens
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
Works by Aurelio Edler-Copes, Pierre Jodlowski, Mayu Hirano, Carlos de Castellarnau, Jérôme Combier, Nuria Gimenez Comas and Alexandre Vert by Fanny Vicens (accordion).
Invested in contemporary creation for ten years, Fanny Vicens has pushed the accordion into a new dimension. From a concert instrument – a status that was granted to it belatedly in France, at the end of the 1980s – the accordion metamorphosed with it into a source of experimentation. And not only with the microtonal model used in two pieces of this program. A virtuoso of breath and timbre, the young performer here offers works that are akin to a hand-to-hand encounter with electronics. That he flattens himself against crushing masses (the spectacular Something out of Apocalypse of Pierre Jodlowski), that he has fun in all directions (in the Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out of Alexander Vert who gives its title to the album) or that it disintegrates in weightlessness (the fascinating Moment Suspended by Mayu Hirano), Fanny Vicens’ accordion plays dream mutants. With the merit of not abusing the effects in Inside, by Nuria Gimenez Comas, who seduces with its shimmering troubles and voracious aspirations. Pierre Gervasoni
1 CD Eole Records.
- Laurent Bardainne and Freshwater Tiger
Hymn to the Sun
The previous album of saxophonist Laurent Bardainne with his band Tigre d’eau douce, Love Is Everywhere, had been one of our favorites when it was released in April 2020. The quintet is back at the start of the year with the equally delightful Hymn to the Sun. We hear an even more assured collective playing, the development of qualities already perceived, including the orchestral treatment of the music which passes through the layers of the organ of Arnaud Roulin, the rhythmic impulses all in convolutions of the trio formed by bassist Sylvain Daniel, percussionist Roger Raspail and drummer Philippe Gleizes, the lyrical warmth brought by the saxophone of Laurent Bardainne (Adieu My Lord, Combly Family). If the inspiration is still largely in an alliance between jazz, soul and the music of black Africa, some trips to Latin music are perceptible, as in the theme which gives its title to the album, evocative of Santana without the guitar. Sylvain Siclier
1 CD Heavenly Sweetness/The Other Distribution.
- Miles Kane
Change the Show
Liverpool-born dandy Miles Kane had lost his luster with coup de grace (2018), a third album lacking in inspiration. After three years of watered exile in California, alongside his friend Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) of the Last Shadow Puppets, the thirty-year-old singer, composer and performer has settled back in London and is returning to his roots with Change the Show. Not a return to his first mod-leaning Brit pop albums, but rather to the music of his childhood, the soul of the 1960s from Motown to the productions of Phil Spector. It begins with a melancholy glam ballad, Tears Are Falling, then the choice of arrangements takes a more classy and brassy turn, very white soul. We had almost forgotten that Kane knew how to write devilishly seductive compositions, such as Never Get Tired of Dancing cut to be a hit on old-school R’n’B tracks or Nothing’s Gonna Be Good Enough in duet with Corinne Bailey Rae or Change the Show. Frank Colombani
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