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Last year, French label Debruit & Desilence sent us a couple of promos, and they have lingered on my Zune for many months. For some reason lately, this album by Lousiville started coming in the flow of music the device "randomly" puts out. I was intrigued by what i heard, so i made the effort to give this a concerted listen.
It's interesting. Louisville are a post-rock outfit that blend male and female voices in French and/or English, with subtle acoustic-based rock, and occasional electro elements. Listed out like that, it sounds kind of chaotic. However, Louisville make it work.
The album start offs with a wandering drone and the female voice speaking in French, listing bands from Louisville, KY. There is a faint, plucked banjo sound, and LouisEville meanders like this for a few minutes, pleasant and light. Eventually a strummed acoustic guitar comes in, and the banjo picks up speed, making the song almost a country tune. At about the three minute mark, the female voice fades out, and a male voice starts singing in English. Drums, bass, and a violin join in to accompany the guitar and banjo, and suddenly the tune reminds me of Songs:Ohia. It's an odd transition, but it works.
The album's title track is next. It starts off with electro bleeping and blooping, and the female voice singing in English. She is eventually joined by slowly sawing strings, and a second, more distorted layer of voice. Eventually an electric guitar comes in, and the song starts rocking out rather nicely. A Silent Effort fades in Matin (morning), which is a two minute interlude of lo-fi piano, and then the album takes a plunge into the dark.
The Only Thing To Come Now Is the Sea starts with an ominous rumbling and a faint looped static bit, like something out of a Biosphere record. Then the female voice is there, speaking in French, and the electric guitar joins her, sawing away. The male voice starts screaming in the background... Eventually she starts speaking in English, ranting about blackberries, and again the whole band kicks in and the song rocks out. It is vaguely unsettling, but well done. I can't help but think that this is what Trent Reznor was trying to do with How To Destroy Angels, but here Louisville pull it off better than anything on Reznor's new band's debut EP.
Another interlude is next, this one titled Soir (night) and consisting of two minutes of light strings and piano. The rumbling drone is back for Forest (for Maria Kotalska). Here the female voice reads a poem in English over the drone. There is very minimal accompaniment, some scattered strings and distorted guitar hits here and there, but it is mostly just the drone. Not bad, but it is an eight minute song, and quite honestly, it goes on too long.
After that drone finally fades out, the folk rock is back. Johnny and June starts off with acoustic guitar. The male voice is singing here, and the song sounds vaguely like something Black Heart Procession would do, or perhaps the more acoustic, less synth-driven moments of Casiotone For the Painfully Alone. It is a nice little song, and a pleasant end to the record.
So, as you can see, Louisville cover quite a bit of ground. Aside from the one mis-step of Forest (for Maria Kotalska), they do the various styles well. An interesting album, and i am curious to see how this band develops.
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