Feu Thérèse threaten to overload the circuits with the bevy of instruments they cram into these equally rabid arrangements. Synthesizers, drums, organs, and harpsichords are but a small sampling of the weapons enlisted, which Jonathan Parant (of Fly Pan Am), Alexandre St-Onge (Shallabi Effect), Luc Paradis, and Stephen De Oliveira channel into structures that are coherent and complete enough that fully formed details are there to be picked out and engaged with. At the same time, though, rather than crafting a unified form by sanding away rough, jagged edges and seeking equilibrium, the conflicting elements of this bands sound remain in close connection with each other on account of their volatile, antagonistic character.
On album opener, ¨Ferrari En Feu¨, screeching electronic tones frantically rub up against one another, kindling an array of sparks that continue to burn more fervently until the piece suddenly morphs into an angular post-rock march, replete with monstrous rising guitar lines, lurching drums, and a cluster of digital groans. The next track, ¨Mademoiselle Gentleman¨ is of like mind insofar as the waves of buzzing electronics attempt to establish their own system which itself serves only to incite an uproar of strangled, spiraling guitar patterns. In this way, it is not the unbroken continuity of these pieces, but their dispersion and restlessness that carries them impressively throughout these some fourty-minutes.
Whereas the saxophone swells and eerie harmonies of ¨L’homme Avec Coeur Avec Elle¨ harken back to some of the material found in the earlier efforts from Constellation, ¨Ce N’est Pas Les Jardins Du Luxembourg¨ is a dense hive of tribal drums, clanging chimes, and unruly, insectile squeaks and chirps. Given the number of aberrant, often overlapping, lines that are at play here, either piece could have easily been a mangled, aimless patchwork of passing fancies. That these raucous, flamboyant tendencies do not destroy themselves, but actually give rise to a document that is complexly layered, approachable, and adorned with many appealing shades comes as high praise indeed.
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