The Brussels artist debuts on Jan Jelinek's label with a beautiful album of detailed ambient sound studies.
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There's something nostalgic about listening to Roméo Poirier's music. This notion first struck me during the quarantine period of 2020. Scrolling aimlessly through Instagram one day, I came across a page promoting a reissue of an album called Somewhere Decent To Live by Space Afrika. After searching for the album on Sferic's Bandcamp site, I scrolled through to see what else the Manchester-based label had available.
I clicked on the small gray square linking to Roméo Poirier's Hotel Nota—an almost sepia-toned image of a young European man in swimming trunks carefully balancing his body between beached rocks and a cigarette gracing the cover. After pressing play, a sense of familiarity struck me. This record was brand new to me, yet also completely known.
Hotel Nota brought to mind images of my younger self working at Baltimore's largest independent record store, being exposed to new and unfamiliar sounds by my dear friend Jason Urick. He introduced me to a record that became a cornerstone of great importance to me (and many others), Jan Jelinek's Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, which still holds the same freshness as it did 21 years ago. The micro-chopping and rearranging of somewhat recognizable, yet "I-can't-fully-put-my-finger-on-it" sounds was the perfect blend of technology meets improvisation meets mystery.
Poirier's new album, Living Room, lands on Jelinek's Faitiche label, and carries many of the same qualities. The opening cut, "Statuario," is an immediate attention-grabber. Warm bird sounds mix with looped clarinet-like lines over bubbling bass at a slow tempo, making room for an emerging undercurrent that quickly changes direction. Gently shifting into "Neo Kosmos," a similar beatless theme is introduced with more atmospheric percussive sounds floating to and fro.
While Poirier's previous LP had a lightly beat-driven style—or, at least, you could count the changes—Living Room is more fluid in its structure. In fact, I'd say it’s more focused on fluids in general. Listen to "Porte Contre" as it moves like a mother and baby whale calling back and forth to each other. Bassy spinning plates thudding underneath create an image of underwater life. The album's center-piece "Muscle de sable” is the closest thing resembling song structure. Moving slowly over a deconstructed thumping beat, and holding up a handful of chopped, swirling samples "Muscle de sable" is a masterpiece unto itself. With this tune in particular, I can't help but think of Jelinek's Kosmischer Pitch, or Tierbeobachtungen albums. Both releases helped Jelinek crack a genre-breaking code and create a more psychedelic audio landscape. With pieces like "Rotation séance," "Le case degli altri", and the amazing "Les grandes lignes," Poirier is on the same trajectory.
Living Room marks Poirier's second near-perfect album in a row, which is no small feat. From beginning to end, the LP grabs the ear by building a soundscape that not only is accessible to new listeners, but also reveals new musical ideas with each listen. The complexity in programming means that the buried sounds only emerge into the forefront once the frontline has been memorized. Think about it in terms of regular pop song structure—most people hear the melody and lyrics first, memorize them, then listen to the bassist or string arrangements afterwards. Living Room rewards the same kind of approach, full of hidden details and figures that only become clear when you're fully immersed.
Tracklist01. Statuario
02. Neos Kosmos
03. Bespoke
04. Porte Contre
05. Anna
06. Muscle De Sable
07. Rotation Séance
08. Le Case Degli Altri
09. Visiona
10. Impression Couleurs
11. Les Grandes Lignes
12. Superstudio