ARTIST...: Xeno & Oaklander
TITLE....: Par Avion
YEAR.....: 2014
LABEL....: Ghostly International
CAT.NO...: GI-218
GENRE....: Electronic
TIME.....: 32:04
SIZE.....: 57,69 MB
QUALITY..: 250kbps/44,1kHz/Joint Stereo
ENCODER..: LAME
SOURCE...: CDDA
RLS.DATE.: 2014/12/04
WEBSITE..: http://ghostly.com/releases/par-avion-album
TRACKLIST
01) (05:01) Interface
02) (03:10) Lastly
03) (03:58) Sheen
04) (04:17) Par Avion
05) (04:15) Jasmine Nights
06) (02:27) Reflections
07) (03:22) Nuage d'Ivoire
08) (02:13) Providence
09) (03:21) G. Bruno
Xeno and Oaklander are a minimal electronics girl/boy duo from Brooklyn, NY. They
began writing music and soundtracks in 2004. Liz Wendelbo is French / Norwegian and
Sean McBride is from Maryland. They record their songs live in their Brooklyn studio
and play analogue synthesizers and instruments exclusively.
This summer, Xeno and Oaklander bring their minimal electronic sounds to Ghostly
International with new album Par Avion, their first for the label. The album's title
is a reference to postcards ù it translates as "by plane", and was used to mark
airmail sent from exotic places. The songs are postcards of love for a cold age ù
shimmering moments from the present, romantic messages from the past, and love
mementos for the future. Together, they make up an album of contrasts ù the songs
move from upbeat to downbeat, slow to fast, light to dark.
Par Avion's rich diversity of sounds comes at least in part from the fact that it's
an album-long ode to synesthesia. As singer Liz Wendelbo explains, ôSound makes me
think of a scent, which makes me think of an image, which makes me think of a certain
kind of light.ö The sensory experiences are palpable: "Jasmine" calls to mind the
intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers that bloom at night, "Nuage D'Ivoire" sweats
under a tropical sky full of clouds that hold the key to the past and the future,
"Sheen" glistens with reflections dancing in the water and with inner visions of
romance, where light and dark meet in the pupil of the eye.
Adding to the sense of exoticism, Wendelbo's whispery vocals are sung in both French
and English, calling to mind Jane Birkin and Fran?oise Hardy. Again, there's a
contrast between dark and light ù the alluring, tropical warmth of Wendelbo's vocals
is juxtaposed against duo's signature icy cold, ultra-modern synth sounds. Those
sounds have a new component for Par Avion ù synth wizard Sean McBride uses an
analogue Serge modular synth to create washes of sound that recall '90s shoegaze. The
result is an album that stimulates and fascinates throughout, a rich feast for all
the senses, a world to get lost in again and again.
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