Le Volume Courbe - I Killed My Best Friend

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 18 / 10 / 2005

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Review

Le Volume Courbe is the project of a French lady called Charlotte Marionneau. Charlotte grew up in a small French town but moved to London ten years ago. 'I Killed My Best Friend', which lasts just under thirty minutes, is her debut album and she is assisted on it by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and Colm O'Ciosoig and Mazzy Star's David Roback and Hope Sandoval. It makes initially very hard listening, but is worth sticking with, especially if you like your music to have some depth to it. It opens with her 2001 Poptones 7" only single, 'Harmony' and its B side 'Papillon de Nuit'. They are, like much of the album, both acoustic guitar based numbers. 'Harmony' has a child like vocal while its backing, some of which is good, and some of which is just weird, is like an experimental Bjork. 'Papillon de Nuit', which has a vocal sung in French, has a strummed guitar and is absolutely lovely. 'Who are You?' is another experimental number, and has a distorted vocal that repeats over and over "Don"t you like me? " The title track has clear guitar, and a strong vocal which finds Charlotte angry at both her mother and her best friend. 'I Shall Skip Your Judgement' is another offbeat number and, acoustic based, sounds like the soundtrack to a new wave black and white 50's French film. 'Thank You' is very short and has a child like vocal, while 'Ain"t Got No.....I Got Life ' is a cover of the Nina Simone classic and finds Charlotte backed on piano by former Primal Scream member, Martin Duffy. 'Sitting in Your Head' has a vocal which recalls the young Dylan, while the excellent 'Through This Time' sounds like a band jam. 'Hanging Around' is an electro number and has a sexy, throaty vocal .'The Mind is a Horse' starts off with a sequence of mad whispers and then opens out with a very quiet, almost whispered vocal. 'This and That' , is very simple and finds Charlotte singing in a heavenly style, while 'Locarno', the last number, in contrast is big and housey. It closes a diffcult album, but one which has been well worth the journey.

Track Listing:-

1 Harmony
2 Papillon de Nuit
3 Who Are You?
4 I Killed My Best Friend
5 I Shall Skip Your Judgement
6 Thank You
7 Aint Got No I Got Life
8 Sitting in Your Head
9 Through This Time
10 Hanging Around
11 The Mind Is a Horse
12 This & That
13 Locarno

Band Links:-

http://levolumecourbe.com/
https://www.facebook.com/levolumecourb
http://levolumecourbe.bigcartel.com/

Label Links:-

http://honestjons.com/label