(06.27.05) After several highly challenging and diverse releases (namely the experimental Sentimentalist by Sanso-Xtro and the neo-classical Six Preludes from Ryan Teague), Type strike a perfect balance with the release of Le Fumeur de Ciel, the debut album from mysterious Parisian, Julien Neto. A luxurious, touching and poetic symphony of smoky melancholia, the true power of the music presented here stems from Neto’s ability to combine incredibly moving melodies with enveloping and immersive atmospheres without resorting to heavy or cluttered use of field recordings and other samples. Every string, woodwind and brass instrument employed has been elegantly layered and swirled together with intense textures and subtle distortions.
“I (One)” is a strange piece with which to open such a rich and romantic work, its sparse infusion of edgy, sawing pads, jittery, clonking bleeps, muted piano keys and dry electronics strangely removed from the velvety tones and thick textures that colour the rest of the album, but Neto is quick to immerse the listener utterly in his
spiralling, melancholic world with “Sketch”. Like many pieces on Le Fumeur de Ciel, it makes wonderfully soulful use of sensuously plucked harp strings and yearning, tremulous flute melodies, layering them amongst foggy, metronomic piano chords and flowing, aqueous strings, creating a track at once so achingly sorrowful yet transcendentally beautiful one would have expected it appear as the emotional closure of the album rather than its formative introduction.
The combined talent of Neto and Keith Kenniff (aka Helios, Goldmund) is a marriage made in heaven, the fruits of which are realised in “VI,” one of the albums most radiantly cut gems. Kenniff’s sensitively composed and delicately played piano is as moving and evocative as ever, working synergistically with Neto’s generous layers of exquisitely balanced and blended shimmering pads, coruscating harps and creaking melodic percussive accompaniment. Keats is parenthetically name-checked in the following verse of Neto’s aural poem. “IV (Keats)” is a piece that masterfully complements and enhances its predecessor, lending further credence to the assertion that Neto has taken his time lovingly assembling Le Fumeur de Ciel. It is also utterly heart wrenching… more sighing synths curl through great whorls of baritone woodwind instruments, and so
many times, it’s tear-stained chords strain to close the piece, only to be denied in further smoke-wreathed stanzas.
The almost aristocratic grandeur of the brief, harpsichord scattered “Musicbox” evokes the ghosts and memories of once crowded ballrooms, whilst the solemn, contemplative “Voy” – a piece that previously appeared on the Vestibule & Separate: Cottage Industries 3 compilation on Neo Ouija -resonates with singing, vaulted synth drone melodies that shiver atop cloistered and heavily reverbed clonking percussive elements. The impact and power of the fittingly titled “V (Rivers)” is immediate and irresistible, its deep and heavy opening cadences vividly bringing to life the dark, churning waters and sinister undercurrents of strong, fast-moving rivers observed at close quarters by moonlight. Neto’s sense of timing is impeccable as, two minutes in, these dark and foreboding synths are swept away with the listener, borne along the waters on a widescreen, moonlit cruise.
In “III,” dusty gusts of wind erode rippling banks of sweeping strings revealing more elegiac piano melodies and semi-destroyed horn sounds, while closure is brought about by the nervous chattering rhythms and hollow reed instruments of “Farewell.” Of all the tracks here only “Questionable” fails to make much impact, its static construction and rather dry, uneventful drones stalling the album briefly. The artwork by Kabegami is once again worthy of mention as the rich, creamy illustration sported on Type’s trademark matt-laminated digipack is exquisite and visually describes the music perfectly.
At once beautifully understated and unassuming yet intoxicatingly potent and affecting Le Fumeur de Ciel is an embarrassment of riches, especially for those who share Neto’s melancholy and romantic temperament. Another triumph for the Type label and one of their finest releases to date. Buy without hesitation.
Le Fumeur de Ciel is out now on Type.
