4 out of 5

Label: Murailles Music

Produced by: ?

Okay, work with me, here, because I don’t speak French, and the translated description of this is a little wonky.

Murailles hosts many awesome French acts, a lot in the Chevreuil mathy instrumental vein (the label seemingly half-sprung from the now defunct Africantape label); credited on this experimental release you’ll see a couple of those names: Pneu; Marvin.  And when you spin the record, you’ll hear fittingly wonked drum beats and guitar chirps that will match expectations.  But when you get to the second song, you might start wondering: what the Hell is going on? because it starts exactly the same… and then becomes something different.  Side B is a similar game: open with a drum rush and riffage, then find your own direction.  Two of the versions of this offer vocals; one of them (song 3) is much more electronic than the others.

It’s a quality song, and once you expect what to expect, the variations are fascinatingly diverse and complex.  But what exactly is going on?

‘The Holiday Colony’ – the possibly translated title? – is, as I vaguely understand it, inspired by a Monty Python record on which two grooves were lain down on one side such that, depending on where the stylus dropped, you’d hear from one or the other, i.e. you didn’t know what you’d get until it started playing.  The bands’ version of this was to mix and match members (I think), and mix and match on a base composition, resulting in a ‘random’ take on a central idea.  There was apparently a live component of this as well, somehow giving audiences a similarly randomized performed version, but I can’t quite piece together how that worked.  For the purposes of a physical product, we have a 100-page accompanying booklet, split somewhat into four sections – will suppose one for each band ‘configuration’ – with childlike drawings facing in different directions in each section, implying a changing perspective for each song / viewing.

Or something.

If it sounds stuffy, listen and observe, first.  Maybe it’s that I’m lacking the language context, but this really comes across as spirited inspiration versus some meaning-laden tripe, and the songs are truly rocking and rewarding.  So I emerge digging the concept, as well as appreciating Murailles’ packaging and production of this.