In 2003, Benoît Burello was last referred to as
the producer of an album, Spacebox, second item of his project,
Bed, released after The Newton Plum, which had, obviously
definitively reinforced his status- by the way, rather enviable-
of “French Mark Hollis (or Robert Wyatt)”.
Today,
he is back, on a much different field. From the title, to
the group portrait of his cover and to the gripping landscapes
pictures (by Ellie Jorrand) of the booklet, one can feel
that, with New Lines, his third record released by Ici d’Ailleurs,
Bed has taken an astonishing curve. This can be confirmed
from the very first bars of the breathless track Newsprint,
a crazy race over melodic hurdles… Even Bloc Party
could take a leaf out of this book: By leaving aside his
deeply moving and delicate chamber Rock, Bed- like an overflowing
river- has literally cleared off…
Indeed, has Benoît Burello surrounded himself with
his trusty brothers in arms- The guitar player, Olivier Mellano,
the phenomenal drum player Jean Michel Pires (the Married
Monk, Headphone, yann Tiersen) and also Yann Louineau (who
played the guitar on The Newton Plum, and who is here, a
joint signatory to all the lyrics) - but in this team, he
has also, given a place to two musicians (drum players Thierry
Chompré and Nicolas Courret) so as to make out of
Bed a real band. Surrounded in that way, Burello has been
able to speed up the pace, and open up his self new vistas
to produce an album one could see as a frantic Rock album,
if only the word could convey the measure of such a subtly
elaborate pop music.
“I have the feeling that Bed is nothing but this” states
Burello who has never been seen so proud of any record of
his. And he’s got something to be proud about. It’s
true; New Lines radiates a “drive” effect, an
amazing dynamic power, whether one is following the long
mesmerizing Neu’s-furious-Krautrock-like tunnels (
on Newsprint, on A new start) or flowing with labyrinthine
melodies which either, evoke, the multifaceted pop music
of The Notwist (Into the void and its implacable bass line
), or the unflagging modulations of XTC (Midsummer Night
Song), or the harmonic illuminations of Pinback… The
last image we had of Benoît Burello, was one of a “Jansenist”,
his new image is close to hedonism, obviously, quite far
from Mark Hollis or Robert Wyatt.
But nevertheless, even
though, Bed’s intention has become more direct and
snappier, Benoît Burello remains faithful to his ambitions.
The achievement of New Lines (recorded at Burello’s
Plumpike studio, in Montreuil, Drums recorded at Cocoon Studio
in Rennes, mix by Rudy Coclet at Rising Sun Studio), shows
perfectionism, and reveals a strong and quite staggering
desire for sound research: behind the omnipresent percussions
(most of the tracks include an average of one bass drum,
doubled by two bass toms, and nothing less than three snare
drums!), the arrangements are as subtle as the uneven rhythms
and harmonic progressions which have the knack of carrying
the listener to places he (she) expects the less… For
instance, who could have guessed that , on Newsprint, the
first guitar appears only after more than two minutes (the
bass guitar, as well as the twisted lines are all played
on saturated piano) ? Bed could have also been named Polyphonic
Youth…
Because it conveys an infectious desire for converting France
to these illuminated melodies of which, XTC and the High
Llamas have the secret, sometimes, even allowing itself loan
words from Marvin Gaye’s sexual healing, New Lines
says it loud: Benoît Burello is, in every sense of
the word, a major musician.
David Sanson
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