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emmanuelle parrenin - maison rose - souffle continu records - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: Wave / Pop / Rock - Folk

1. Ce Matin A Fremontel...
2. Plume Blanche, Plume Noire
3. Liturgie
4. Thibault Et L'Arbre D'Or
5. Ritournelle
6. L'Echarpe De Soie
7. Topaze
8. Belle Virginie
9. Ballade Avec Neptune
10. Maison Rose
11. Apres L'Ondee
12. Le Reve

Recorded in 1977, at the height of punk, these are mysterious, gentle songs, simultaneously ancestral and futuristic — some collected by Parrenin in rural communities, others with lyrics by Jean-Claude Vannier, who attended the recording sessions — occasionally mounting in rhythmic urgency to evoke the open Motorik of Faust. (Have a listen to Topaze.)

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The engineer was Bruno Menny — a follower of Xenakis — whose 1972 Cosmographie LP is a landmark in French electroacoustic music. He recorded Parrenin in the converted barn of Jacques Denjean, who worked with Dionne Warwick, Francoise Hardy and the Double Six. Albert Marcoeur made two wonderful albums there.

If comparisons are inevitable then Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs, Joanna Newsom, Collie Ryan, Shirley Collins, Trees Community, Sourdeline and Veronique Chalot all spring spontaneously to mind... but this is too reductive for the timeless singularity of Emmanuelle Parrenin.