Dense layered textures of acoustic instruments white-washed over with electronic textures make up the “shoe gaze for the modern age†sounds of Ensemble (Olivier Alary). The former Rephlex label signing has brought a new aesthetic to his sound with the self-titled album for new home Fat Cat and he has invited some heavyweight pals including Chan Marshall (suitably haunting on the track “Disown, Deleteâ€) and Lou Barlow, who also adds his lazy vocal and guitar strum to an album perfectly suited to hazey pop awash with walls of sounds, both synthesized and found. Anyone familiar with the Function album “Secret Miracle Fountain†or the gentler moments of My Bloody Valentine will find solace here, the vocal tracks interspersed by ambient interludes and a closing track consisting of 6 minutes of rain samples, round off a sumptuous and intimate album that pleases on many levels.
Lyndon Pike
