aaamusic | On 31, Jan 2011

Olivier Alary, aka Ensemble, comes back with another gem of music and emotions, ‘Excerpts’.

Let’s be straight, “Excerpts’ is so far the best album of the prolific Montreal-based musician. Alary developed a sound that is perfect counterpoint between distant cultures and opposite feelings. Liquid voices on distant noise, sweet melodies on spooky backgrounds.

While in the past Alary counted on the support of international stars such as Bjork (Alary co-wrote on Medulla album as well) and Chan Marshall, in ‘Excerpts’ he relies only on his own creativity and the support of long-term collaborator Darcy Conroy, voice in the splendid single with the same title.

What is standing out about ‘Excerpts’ is in the incredible variety of sounds and atmospheres employed, from echoes of Gainsbourg and la chansonne francaise of Yann Thiersen, to the shoegaze of ‘En Attedant l’Orage’. Reminiscences of trip-hop masters drift through the course of the album, from Portishead to Archive.

Montreal’s duality between French and English reflects itself on ‘Excerpts’ and, as the latin god Janus, forms a paradoxal unity between opposite feelings an approaches. Similarly, the album plays on the confusion between real and fictional memories, portraying, as the same Alary states, “weddings I’ve never attended, kisses with someone I’ve never met, childhood landscapes that I only saw on screen, faces of friends I’ve never had’. Only emotions are real, especially the ones we feel listening ‘Excerpts’ again and again.

Author: Lorenzo Coretti