L' ARGOT DU BRUIT

By 1998, France's Pascal Comelade was well into his stride, and releasing albums as if they were editions of a regular magazine. Indeed, the magazine comparison is also valid on the basis that his albums tend to follow a similar pattern with only subtle variances in style. His first album of this year was "L'argot Du Bruit"; I believe a rough translation is "The jargon of noise".

Comelade's listing on this site under the wing of "Progressive electronic" is somewhat misleading, as his albums are most certainly not synthesiser-fests or keyboards infested virtuoso performances. The main sounds here, and indeed on many of Comelade's albums are French style accordions, Spanish brass and a variety children's instruments. The tracks tend to be short, sometimes very short, with only the occasional indulgence into anything over 4 minutes. The compositions are simple, using repetition a lot, their simplicity being emphasised by the instruments used and the basic arrangements.

The opening title track paints a picture of Paris street scenes and late night B-movies with sub-titles. It, and indeed pretty much everything here, is hardly prog, the prog connection presumably coming from the way Comelade goes about his business rather than the overall results as such.

There is the occasional eyebrow raiser, such as the rare vocals by Jean Hervé Peron on "The Sad Skinhead". A couple of minutes later though, we are back into the Parisian accordions and Maurice Chevalier melodies. The vocals return, this time in unaccredited female form, on " Love Too Soon", a gentle piano ballad. The longest track is the 7+ minute "Sardana Dels Desemparats", where Comelade uses the luxury of the extra space available to build a credible Bolero type piece.

While there are always (naturally) distinctly French nuances in the work of Comelade, on this album he seems to allow them to become particularly dominant, the result being a generally more demure collection. The occasional appearance of vocals here does offer a brief diversion from the norm, but this is essentially an album which is interchangeable with many of those in Pascal's discography. An enjoyable listen, but by no means an essential one.