MELMOTH: LA DEVANTURE DES IVRESSES

3,5 stars really!!

Dashiell Hedayatt 's first Lp came out under his artist name Melmoth and it received an academic prize for its texts and adaptation to music. By all means , while an excellent album and slight hints at the perfection to be of his second album Obsolete, do not look for a masterpiece here , but an excellent album but a good mastership of the French language is necessary to enjoy it to the utmost.

But tyhe music behind the sung words is also much worthy and can even be at times more progressive than the music on Obsolete (which was really psychadelic/spacey), with superb sax interventions , great kb and percussions and vibes.

Only my desire to remain honest and not enduce prospective progheads into error , stop me from giving this album the fourth star I would give it if I was to hold personnal archives.

Another lazy, crazy, but tropical passion fruit we can hear via this deep Fantasia. Sounds like this album "La Devanture Des Ivresses" would have exerted massive influence upon Francesco Currà, and actually Dashiell Hedayatt aka Melmoth's lazy, depressive voices can remind us of a stream of Psychedelic Progressive Electronic.

Especially via the weird electronic opening of the first shot "Le Voyage D'été" (suitable for a key track of this whole album methinks) we can find a terrific psychic agent. Furthermore he created a wonderful mixture of repetitive monotone phrases, powerless voices, and sharp- edged saxophone explosions. The first one "Le Voyage D'été" goes forward along with a tad pop scape and some experimental improvisational spices, based upon multirhythmic drumming, 60s-flavoured keyboard chitchat, and hard saxophone attacks. And guess we could get drenched in Melmothic clumsy psychedelia created with sedative sound agents via the following one "Vous Direz Que Je Suis Tombé". Quite inactive and downtempo this song is, but on the contrary we can notice a freedom in the early 70s psychedelic rock scene. Very interesting and impressive, innovative stuff in those days. "La Mort Multicolore", similar to the atmosphere in the previous one, is veiled in mysterious keyboard touches and irregular flute footprints. Suppose it's enough only via the A Side to discuss Melmoth um.

"Papier A Fleur" is another fusion of optimistic psychedelic phantasmagoria and authentic jazz rock. Sometimes unstable, a bit narcoleptic air we can touch but basically pleasure. And one of my faves "Le Blues Interminable De La Préposée Au Chalet D'aisance Du Bureau D'emigration"is a slow bluesy groovy boogie, that reminds us of late 50s good days. Melmoth's voices are no good as well though ... kaleidoscopic percussive keyboard work upon such a simple blues song. How amazing. One of psychedelic pop like of 13th Floor Elevators "Mary-Flora Belle" is not an innovative but a fine track, that let us sing together. In the final one "Le Voyage D'Hiver" is a refrain of the first one "Le Voyage D'été" and simultaneously the finish flavour of whisky in a glass named "La Devanture Des Ivresses" ... exactly suitable for the epilogue of this album theatre, particularly the very last elektronika.

Let me say this superb album can be thought as one of dawn breaks in psychedelic progressive rock scene. Mystic and optimistic.