Album of the month :
October 2003
HECTOR ZAZOU (F) :
" Strong Currents "
( Telescopic )
It was almost ten years ago that Hector Zazou released his masterpiece " Chansons Des Mers Froides". Active since the 70's, this maverick of the French music scene then achieved a musical project that sounded like nothing else before: a stylish mix of contemporary music, ambient, world, electro and jazz that could boast the contribution of talented artists like John Cale and Suzanne Vega, Björk, Jane Siberry, and Lappish singer Vimme Saari to name but a few.
Since that time, we were eagerly waiting for Hector Zazou to give a sequel to this peerless album. And there comes " Strong Currents". In spite that it uses more or less the same techniques than its predecessor, and displays a similar high-flying casting based exclusively on female voices ( Lisa Germano, Sarah-Jane Morris, Laurie Anderson, Jane Birkin...), this is not exactly a sequel though. Restrained and introspective, it is more like a negative, a reversed image of the feverish and lyrical " Chansons Des Mers Froides". The fact that the lyrics reflect some of Zazou's most intimate feelings ( " Things you tell only to your analyst", he says) can explain this. Based on a classical or an electronic backgound ( or sometimes a very light mix of the two), the cold beauty of " Strong Currents" irradiates and burns, leaving only ashes in the wind. The voices come to make life surge from these desolated landscapes, like if all the songs were written especially for them. Sarah-Jane Morris pours gravel on the sinuous lane of Remember, the only song here to still recall " Chansons Des Mers Froides", with its levantine influences. Lisa Germano is perfect as usual on a Indiana Moon that could have been culled from any of her own albums. Nina Hynes invests Björk's polar star in a disconcerting way on the pristine Under My Wings. And what a good surprise to discover that not only Peter Gabriel has a daughter, Mélanie, but also that she's a pretty good singer on the gently rolling Mmmh and its infectious basoon theme. In Let It Blow, one of the albums's highlights, the delicate interlace of woodwind and piano shroud the warm vocals of Emma Stow in a hazy shade of melancholy. But for the big thrill, head directly to Morning, the penultimate track. Over a destructured melody that owes more to Ravel and Debussy than any contemporary artist ( Ruichi Sakamoto is on piano), the outstanding voice of Nicola Hitchcock soars, sways and vibrates like an extraterrestrial instrument directly plugged to your emotional center. Or check the aptly titled Beauty to discover a new, unknown facet of Serge Gainsbourg's muse, Jane Birkin. Relieved of the conventions and mannerisms of her usual repertoire, she shines here like a diamond of the first water.
These " Strong Currents" are of those that seep through you deeply, and make you different forever once you've experienced them. Listening to this album will be at your own risks.
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