Melodium :: Petit Jama EP (s/r)

Petit Jama feels intensely intimate. The packaging and screen-printing are all done by Girard himself and the mastering job is low-fi enough to feel hand-made without sacrificing the clarity of Melodium’s sounds.

[Listen] Petit Jama is a self-released mini CDR from Melodium mastermind, Laurent Girard. While I don’t speak French myself, I imagine that Petit Jama roughly translates to “little thing that rocks out,” and this album certainly earns that title. From the small format, to the album’s run time, to the length of the songs themselves, every aspect of this record speaks to the importance of being brief and vibrant.

This approach is a continuation of the style Girard displayed on his 2010 release for symbolic interaction, Palimpse. When I reviewed this album for Igloo last winter, I was less than blown away by the experiment. I felt that it distracted me from the hypnotic spell of fuzzy-warm feelings that Melodium is capable of casting. For some reason, I cant quite understand why Petit Jama works in all the ways that Palimpse didn’t. Whatever the cause, there is no denying that Petit Jama is a wonderful listen. It is perhaps my favorite instrumental album out of Melodium’s expansive catalog, but I do hope his mumbled French lyrics return sometime soon.

Kicking off with “Sarah,” one of its strongest tracks, the combination of multiple piano layers and over-compressed drum kit eloquently expresses the upbeat heartbreak and nostalgia that Girard is known for. “Saturne” is equally successful, however, instead of compressed live drumming, the listener is treated to granular digital percussion. The song chirps and slurps like a pond at dusk, and has a melody of reversed flute notes. When extra layers of piano and complimentary drums come in for the last minute or so, they build into an elaborate palace of color and sound. Moments like these, short energetic bursts of melodies, from a variety of instruments over head-bobbing beats, are where this album really shines. Slightly less impressive are the darker IDM leaning tracks: “Falaise” spins out a spooky groove of hand claps and static, but fails to develop a distinct personality of its own. Or perhaps it is more fair to say that at 1:27 it just isn’t given time to find itself. Even though these slower, and less melodic tracks feel secondary to Petit Jama‘s more peppy numbers, moments of greatness still arise. On “Penombre” for example, Girard’s sleepy guitar strumming scrapes against ornate soundscapes, dotted with blurry percussion that brings to mind a rain drop rippling the surface of a pond. Exquisite!

This is one of the best EP’s I’ve heard in quite a while; it packs more listening experiences into a brief 22 minutes than most artists can coax out of an hour or more. Perhaps more importantly, Petit Jama feels intensely intimate. The packaging and screen-printing are all done by Girard himself and the mastering job is low-fi enough to feel hand-made without sacrificing the clarity of Melodium’s sounds. If my overly wordy descriptions haven’t convinced you to give this a try, then let the music speak for itself. The album can be streamed in its entirety from Melodium’s website.

Petit Jama is out now.