Luke Younger’s Alter imprint shifts its focus toward the fringe side of France’s music scene this week with a long-gestating LP from Opéra Mort. Here’s how Jo Tanz and Laurent Gerard—a.k.a. two-thirds of the experimental trio Reines D’Angleterre with underground icon Ghedalia Tazartés—describe its loose mix of fractured electronics and gently tortured transmissions:
“Because of our respective agenda (as élg or Fusiller—and other projects—or just because of real life) it took almost two years to finalize this LP. To be super short: 97-percent of the recorded material from the last [couple] years is now in the permanent hyperspace trashcan.
This LP compiles what survived to the multiple radical pre-selection listenings. More peaceful and radiant than the previous ‘studio’ releases (‘Le tour de l’Oubli’ and ‘Des machines dans les yeux’), ‘Dédales’ is our personal view of dead romance and anti-dancefloor reversions, mixing our respective approach of electronics and vocals. Everything is from improvised sessions, followed by editing and mixing nights while always excluding any overdubbing artifacts.
What you’ll hear is just a concentrated version of what Opéra Mort was during the last few years…”
