songs

Album review

Fresh from an unfortunate incident at their home base (a flood nearly wiped out the operation), 12k comes strongly roaring back with another installment in a chain of releases that tastefully fuse acoustic instrumentation and digital manipulation to achieve fresh results. This particular installment comes from French musician Sébastien Roux, who prior to this release was last heard collaborating with Greg Davis on the outstanding Paquet Surprise. It seems as if that collaboration has rubbed off on Roux a bit, as his choice of instrumentation throughout (along with the software that produced the resulting compositions) seems distinctly in the vein of Davis and his colleague Keith Fullerton Whitman. But what sets Roux apart from these two is the way he gets certain tones and elements from the instrumentation (each track on Songs is primarily an exercise with a specified solo instrument). The results work well on multiple levels, as the songs are as immediately accessible as they are challenging, and bring a rewarding listening experience especially if you pay attention to the minute details.
© Rob Theakston /TiVo