CHRYSALIDE

Michel Moulinié (1945 - 2022) was a guitarist/ multi-instrumentalist from France. He played guitars on Ange's leading figure Francis Décamps' solo debut Histoire de Fou (1979), but a year before that he released his own album Chrysalide which has remained his only one. At the moment Discogs lists eleven vinyls on sale, from 33 euros upwards. No re-releases have been made. As usual with my recent premier reviews, I'm listening the album from Youtube.

So, despite being categorized here as Progressive Electronic, this album is basically not about synthesizers. The main instrument is an electric 12-string guitar. Only bass and violin are mentioned too, but the spacey soundscape admittedly could be described as electronic music, no matter how and with what instruments the music is produced exactly. Probably the best reference of all ProgArchives artists is the ASHRA frontman MANUEL GÖTTSCHING and his solo debut Inventions for Electric Guitar (1975). There's a Krautrock-related, thickly psychedelic feeling in Moulinié's album.

'Le Ballet des Mouches' endlessly repeats and variates, in a minimalistic manner, a 12-string & bass riff, and there's electrified, early MIKE OLDFIELD (Tubular Bells) reminding guitar soloing in this progressive ambient piece. On the background there's a spacey soundcarpet that sounds a bit like a Mellotron -- undoubtedly played on violin. 'Les Cordes de la Mer' is built in a similar way rooted on repetition. I'm not an expert in this field of music, but I believe the names of artists such as TERRY RILEY and even PHILIP GLASS can give you some orientation.

No point describing each of the five tracks in detail; the hypnotic repetition of minimalism meets Kosmische Musik (Ashra, even the early Tangerine Dream to some extent), starring a guitarist with a Steve Hillage -like psychedelic touch. A regular music listener would undoubtedly completely lack the patience for listening to this abstract, monotonous-on-the-surface stuff for 37 minutes, but it's a unique and at least potentially fascinating one of a kind, recommended to advanced listeners who have an acquaintance in ambient music, electronic music / Kosmische Musik and the musical ideas of minimalism. The bizarre cover art really fits the music!