Mental Groove
France - Far Out Far West LP
Regular price
€21.99
Single-sided LP limited to 300 copies with offset printed sleeve and holographic sticker. Record plays inside out 33 minutes recorded live 06.02.2008 @ la Centrale in Bordeaux.
This was the band's first gig outside of their usual comfortable friendly circle and thus was perceived as a somewhat hostile environment. This was where they met the fellows of Les Potagers Nature who will later release France's debut untitled album. This one does bring back many memories, and to be sure the time warp is clearly distinct, the record is to be read inside out.... and the story goes on.
A french trio called France, using drums, bass and amplified hurdy-gurdy. They perform only live, in the middle of the audience - turned in to face each other - full on smoke machines and strobes. And they play only one ‘song’ for the duration of their hour-long set. And it’s the most transfixing live experience of intense physical and mental focus. The distorted hurdy gurdy plugs France’s sound into the country’s history of folk music and popular festivities, of communal trance and immersive pleasure. The rhythmic basis is pretty much the same throughout the whole live. One doesn’t need to actually be tripping balls for the auditory illusions to start coming thick and fast.
Those who’ve stayed for the whole duration of their performances know they’ve shared something. However disparate the phantom forms each might have discerned in the midst of the howls and groans. Gigs like this you leave feeling you’re not quite the same person who went in, even though you’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint precisely what has changed.
One certainty remains at least, that there is still a France we can believe in.
David McKenna (The Quietus).
° Recorded by Mathieu Tilly on camera (the film exists but the images are blank!)
° Mastered by Ernest Bergez
° Artwork by Khawhigh Visuals (Druid High & Juliette Khawam)
° Edition of 300
This was the band's first gig outside of their usual comfortable friendly circle and thus was perceived as a somewhat hostile environment. This was where they met the fellows of Les Potagers Nature who will later release France's debut untitled album. This one does bring back many memories, and to be sure the time warp is clearly distinct, the record is to be read inside out.... and the story goes on.
A french trio called France, using drums, bass and amplified hurdy-gurdy. They perform only live, in the middle of the audience - turned in to face each other - full on smoke machines and strobes. And they play only one ‘song’ for the duration of their hour-long set. And it’s the most transfixing live experience of intense physical and mental focus. The distorted hurdy gurdy plugs France’s sound into the country’s history of folk music and popular festivities, of communal trance and immersive pleasure. The rhythmic basis is pretty much the same throughout the whole live. One doesn’t need to actually be tripping balls for the auditory illusions to start coming thick and fast.
Those who’ve stayed for the whole duration of their performances know they’ve shared something. However disparate the phantom forms each might have discerned in the midst of the howls and groans. Gigs like this you leave feeling you’re not quite the same person who went in, even though you’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint precisely what has changed.
One certainty remains at least, that there is still a France we can believe in.
David McKenna (The Quietus).
° Recorded by Mathieu Tilly on camera (the film exists but the images are blank!)
° Mastered by Ernest Bergez
° Artwork by Khawhigh Visuals (Druid High & Juliette Khawam)
° Edition of 300
