5 out of 5

Label: Les Disques Bongo Joe

Produced by: ?

The most upbeat of dirges. With their Abandonnée/Maleja compatriots now full under the La Tène banner, the …septuplet? can embrace a layer of guitar and bagpipes alongside the hurdy-gurdy, keys, electronics, and percussion of core trio Alexis Degrenier, D’Incise, and Cyril Bondi.

La Tène, for those not in the know, play a longform – generally single take – exploration of folk and psych, through a drone-ish lens / presentation. Depending on the band’s current arrangement or motivations, the music can occasionally extend into infinity, but even when it exhausts, it tends to be interesting at its worst, and its “worst” is a rare thing. Often, there’s the desirable and unique balance of emotions and intensity such that songs can keep building on themselves without the music becoming necessarily noise, but also still veering far from music; this is rather dirgey stuff this time around – somewhat funereal – but its core beat and pace somehow give it a celebratory feeling. (See: the recording space being a barn converted into a ballroom as some typic of symbolic insertion of the grand into the rustic.)

Ecorcha makes much of the bagpipes, and has a surprisingly explosive final third or so, as multiple ‘pipes join in on the dance circle; it’s Polar Goldie Cats’ transfixed beats with some Pelt jamming thrown atop.

La Taillée brings forward – no lie – some reggaeton, albeit told via hurdy-gurdy and clipped percussion. As the strings come in, the jaunty nature of the beat is torn asunder, turning the tune into a whirligig of folk strumming and stomping.

Some of the tightest La Tène tunes to date, but wholly on brand for this gaggle of experimenters.