SOUNDTRACK: LES MOMIES DE PALERME-Brûlez de Coeur [CST070] (2011).
This is the second disc from Constellation’s MUSIQUE FRAGILE 01. Les Momies de Palerme, comprised of Marie Davidson and Xarah Dion, create ethereal music that would not be out of place on NPR’s Echoes (wonder if John Diliberto knows about the album).
There is a female vocalist who has qualities of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser (big surprise there) as well as early Lush. But while the music is often swirling and intriguing, it is also sometimes odd. There are moments in “Solis” which remind me of Pink Floyd’s “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.” (That’s the second time I’ve mentioned this song in just over a month).
“Incarnation” has a vaguely middle eastern feel and works more in a Dead Can Dance kind of vein and “Le Cerf Invisible” has some really cool sound effects that spring up throughout the song.
The title track has a spoken word section that reminds me of the spoken word part in Sinéad O’Connor’s “Never Get Old” from The Lion and the Cobra (probably because it’s spoken by a woman and is in a foreign language, although on Sinéad’s album it’s Gaelic (spoken by Enya(!) and on this one it’s French). I rather like it.
Most of the songs are longer than five-minutes, but there are two short ones: “Médée” is just under three and “Outre-Temps” is just under two, but they retain the same style of music, although “Médée” introduces acoustic guitars.
“Je T’aime” ends the disc with a bit more acoustic instrumentation. The album kind of becomes more grounded as it goes along. But it’s always ethereal. It’s a neat experience.
Their website has a great front page, too.
[READ: January 23, 2012] Five Dials Number 22
Most Five Dials issues are chockablock with different ideas: contemporary issues, flashbacks to the past, fiction, poetry, ethics, music. A wonderful melding of interesting ideas. But Number 22 is entirely different. Simon Prosser and Tracy Chevalier co-edited this issue and as they say in the editor’s note, they asked a group of contributors “to write grown-up fables about nineteen trees native to the UK.”
This issue is also promoting trees by highlighting the work at http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk, an organization with three aims:
1 Work with others to plant more native trees…
2 Protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future…
3 Inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees…
Simple but noble goals. You can even buy a copy of this book in print from them at their store.
Even though I love nature and like being in the woods, I don’t know a lot about different kinds of trees. I’m always stumped when it comes to tree identification. So this issue was kind of enlightening for me. Each fable has a picture of a leaf (presumably from that tree) which were painted by Leanne Shapton. The fables also create backstory for what tree-lovers know about their favorite trees, and so this was also helpful just to learn what people know about trees.
But at the same time, it makes me uniquely unequipped to really talk about these fables. So I’m just going to list the authors and their trees and say a word or two about their style. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 