Mha — 11:46 - 09:01
Yet
another hot contender for the title of most gorgeous 3’’ disc of the
year. This untitled EP comes in an oblong heavy paper pack with a front
cover made of transparent foil depicting a summerly still life at the
border of a lake. The music contained inside is a perfect reflection of
that mood: Sweet, dreamy and delicate, this is a moment of quiet bliss
turned sound.
On one hand, we could leave it at that and end the review right here.
Why waste so many words, when all you need to know is embedded in the
first paragraph? Then again, there is so much more to this disc than
just your typical metaphors of nature that it would seem a crime
ignoring the compositional depth involved. “mha” is an organic acoustic
statement, its two untitled tracks rotating around the sounds of
guitars, bass, glockenspiel and various field recordings as well as the
treated reverberations of their gentle aftermath. In the opening
minutes of the first piece, this adds up to various microdrones, hushed
little motives, lovingly struck chords and long, sustained tones
forming a longing melodic arch. This is not where it ends, however, as
the work suddenly sheds its glistening surface, sinking into a sombre
passage and placing all of its constituent elements in a new light:
What formerly seemed charming and endearing now comes across as
melancholic and filled with sorrow. Deep bass notes sigh mournfully and
the tracks loops itself into a wishful dream. Similarly, the second
track opens with embracing candyfloss clouds, before opening up the
scars and tearing the music down into its deformed mirror image. In
stark contrast to many other drone offerings, mha plays with tonal
variations much more, using sudden root note changes for seemless mood
swings.
The only thing we could possibly complain about is time: At a mere
twenty minutes, this haze is over sooner than anyone could possibly
wish for. On the aposiopese label site, however, there is a yet another
untitled release by this mysterious project available for free
download. and a quick listen has already suggested that there is more
of where this one came from. Only lacking the beautiful packaging, of
course • Bandcamp
Tokafi
Mha
est le projet solo de l’un des guitaristes de Fago Sepia, groupe
post-rock également signé sur le jeune label rennais Aposiopèse. Il
s’agit là d’un deuxième EP pour l’artiste qui a déjà produit un trois
titres aujourd’hui épuisé mais entièrement téléchargeable sur le site
du label.
Si mha reste dans une veine ambient, il semble avec ce CD-R 3" mettre
un peu de côté ses expérimentations et traitements électroniques pour
laisser son instrument de prédilection, la guitare, s’exprimer plus
librement. 11:46 débute par des field recordings, puis les notes de
guitare limpides prennent le relais, légèrement traitées pour apporter
quelques syncopes, quelques nappes linéaires apparaissent, se
superposent, inquiétantes, un objet semble tomber, des bruitages
viennent ajouter à l’aspect cinématographique de cette musique, sur une
guitare répétitive. On est alors proche d’un post-rock ambient à la Pan
American.
09:01 est peut-être plus complexe dans sa composition. L’électronique y
tient une place importante au niveau du traitement sonore, mais le
rendu est quasi orchestral. Superposition, allées et venues de nappes
contrastées pour un résultat à la fois sombre et éclatant.
Ce petit bijou limité à 100 exemplaires se trouve dans un joli écrin,
pochette plastique, impression couleur sur papier calque, une photo
mystérieuse qui colle parfaitement à cette musique.
Etherreal
Le
jeune label aposiopèse fait paraître un ep au format mini-cd signé
james mha, qui est en fait le projet solo d'un des guitaristes du
groupe post-rock fago sepia, que l'on retrouve également sur ce petit
label basé en Loire-Atlantique.
Dans un style plus calme que celui de sa formation initiale, le garçon
propose un ep sur lequel on découvre 2 titres respectivement de 11 et 9
minutes qui évoquent ici plus un post-rock lent, clair, lumineux et
planant, un peu à la manière de ce que peuvent faire des groupes comme
Labradford, PanAmerican ou One mile North, à savoir une musique
constituée de drones, de field recordings, de nappes de synthés et de
longs passages de guitares, le tout arrangé au laptop.
Assez différent des trois mp3 de james mha proposés sur le site du
label, ce ep 2 titres se révèle plus ouvert, moins expérimental et
finalement très beau, très agréable à écouter. Une belle découverte.
Onde fixe
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PRESS
Mha
(james.mha aka Florian Jamelot, guitarist in French band Fago.Sepia)
alchemizes processed sounds of guitar, bass, glockenspiel, and field
recordings into two delicately woven soundscapes on a
twenty-one-minute, three-inch CD release (100 copies produced).
Crystalline organ tones shimmer throughout the first piece, giving it a
church-like air, followed by bright glockenspiel tinkling and flowing
shudders of electric guitar, while the equally engrossing second is
more tranquil. In the opening section, ambient tones slowly drift like
ghosts through a deserted mansion until guitars and bass appear, first
electrifying the sound and then bolstering dramatically its portentous
symphonic ambiance until it resembles a late-twentieth classical
setting of Ligeti-like character.
Textura
A
beautiful aquatic photograph adorns the cover of a nice 3-inch CD by a
gentleman from France, whose name is James (I don’t know if Mha is his
real surname, but this is not important) and who used guitar, bass,
glockenspiel, microphone, minidisc and field recordings to conceive two
tracks – titled exactly as you see, with just their duration – that
keep a pleasant company over the course of 20 minutes, especially at
low level in the early hours of the morning.
The first takes its shape
from unidentified voices to remain suspended mid-air with gentle chords
and volume swells, while the second introduces a few additional
harmonic movements, most notably within the realms of string-ish
gradations that contribute to change perspectives a little bit,
although leaving the general character of the music quite similar to
the rest of the disc.
Think about a mix of certain sides of Eno’s more
melodic materials and, for those who know him, Hypnos label’s guitarist
David Tollefson, the whole covered with a charming simplicity giving
this artifact a graceful warmth which is much appreciated from this
observation point.
Touching extremes
This
is the solo project of James.MHA who plays guitar, bass, glockenspiel,
microphone, md, fields recordings and also member of Fago.Sepia. This
mini-CD was composed by Florian Jamelot and recorded during winter 2004
and mixed early in 2005 by Mathieu Trouvé.
This mini-CD is a limited
edition of 100 CD-R’s released on the French Clisson based Aposiopèse
imprint and comprise two tracks of ambient washes, trembling guitars
and some concrete sounds like a door closing quite hard. The music in
the first track [untitled] is plentiful of melodic guitar chords, a
nostalgic violin and an ambience keyboard line. It sounds like a live
recording. The second track it has some click textures, guitar drones
and their strings sounds like an orchestra.
This is an interesting
piece of music so I’m looking forward for the next release of this
French artist.
Este es el proyecto en solitario de James.MHA quien toca
la guitarra, bajo, lira, micrófono, md y registros de campo y también
es miembro de Fago.Sepia. Este mini-CD fue compuesto por Florian
Jamelot y grabado durante el invierno de 2004 y mezclado a principios
de 2005 por Mathieu Trouvé.
Este mini-CD es una edición numerada de 100
copias y que se editó por el sello francés Aposiopèse que tiene su base
en Clisson y comprende dos temas de ambient, guitarras cristalinas y
algunos sonidos concretos como el cerrado de puertas. La música en el
primer tema [sin título] está lleno de acordes de guitarra melódicos,
un nostálgico violín y una línea de teclado ambiental. Suena como si
fuera grabado en vivo. El segundo tema posee algunas texturas de
clicks, drones de guitarra y sus cuerdas suenan como si fueran una
orquesta.
Interesante muestra, por lo quedo atento a una próxima entrega de este
músico francés.
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