Melody's Echo Chamber - Melody's Echo Chamber
Label.........................: Fat Possum
Genre.........................: Indie
StoreDate.....................: Sep-25-2012
Source........................: CDDA
Grabber.......................: Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoding Scheme...............: Lame 3.98.4 V0 VBR Joint-Stereo
Size..........................: 87.30 MB
Total Playing Time............: 44:26
Release Notes:
Melody's Echo Chamber, the self-titled debut album by Paris-based
musician Melody Prochet, is a retro-sounding record that nods to many
traditions (glam, hard rock, psychedelic rock, folk) without ever
adhering to one.
The album's opening song, "I Follow You," sounds like Best Coast, if you
transplanted Bethany Cosentino's sunny California beach anthems to a
cloudy day on the Brittany coast. "You Won't Be Missing That Part of Me"
and "Mount Hopeless" wobble into line behind Broadcast and Can ù the
rhythms on Melody's Echo Chamber split time between rock and jazz ù but
the album recalls psychedelia-inflected rock the same way so much of
chillwave is based on dance music. The elements are all there, but
they're muddier, moodier and meant to trigger the feeling or the memory
of the thing rather than incite the thing itself. Listening to Melody's
Echo Chamber is like plugging into the analog Matrix.
"Some Time Alone, Alone" follows the album's basic formula: The
instruments whip up a hazy atmosphere inside which Prochet's vocals
suspend. The words are often hard to pick out. Prochet sings in English
on some songs and in French on others, but there are times when you can
easily lose track of which until a word or two peeks out from the
reverb. In both "Snowcapped Andes Crash" and "Crystallized," she
abandons vocals for extended periods that feature noisy but controlled
experimentation. The melody and the atmosphere are the key ingredients;
they keep the songs intriguing, but a little distant. The album
sometimes has the effect of making you feel like you've happened upon a
person in the middle of an intensely private moment, before you notice
that they're posed perfectly to be caught.
That sounds like a dig, but noticing doesn't make it less attractive.
Music like this requires careful layering: Prochet recorded the album
with Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, and his fondness for grooves with
crunch around the edges rather than bounce makes him a good fit for her
misty vocals. Besides, there are too many hooks in Prochet's songwriting
for Melody's Echo Chamber to get predictable, even when she's combining
familiar elements from rock's past. The CD itself features a yin-yang
symbol combined with a smiley-face. You can read that as jumbled
pastiche or a knowing joke ù a symbol reflecting Prochet's willingness
to tweak her musty but beloved relics. The 45 minutes of music on
Melody's Echo Chamber suggests she knows what she's doing.
--NPR
Tracklisting
01. I Follow You 3:34
02. Crystallized 4:01
03. You Won't Be Missing That Part Of Me 4:16
04. Some Time Alone, Alone 3:46
05. Bisou Magique 4:09
06. Endless Shore 4:55
07. Quand Vas Tu Rentrer? 4:21
08. Mount Hopeless 4:32
09. Is That What You Said 2:28
10. Snowcapped Andes Crash 5:15
11. Be Proud Of Your Kids 3:09
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