La Nuit Americaine - When The Music Ends

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 22 / 6 / 2002

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Review

When The Music Ends’ is the Italian post rock group La Nuit Americaine’s fourth release already. Christian Govoni, its central force, has this time entrusted his music into the hands of the accclaimed French label hinah (Magic 12, Transmissionary Six, Doug Hoekstra, Empty House Cooperative etc.) and the result of their collaboration, as always in both cases, creates an affectionate and delightful sound, that has been nicely packaged in the unusual plastic CD covers which are characteristic to the label. ‘Addicted To Time’ the first song revives the band’s emotive soul. Deep blue shades of bass would have kept the tune low if it wasn’t for uplifting percussions that breakthrough cautiously. You might feel like drifting through the air on ‘Going Nowhere’. ‘Here we are. Going nowhere.” sings Christian in his calm and understanding voice against a background of soft piano. It seems La Nuit Americaine’s music has changed a bit compared to its previous albums. ‘Reversin’ The Pale Sun’ features Valeria, an additional singer, who is significant for her melodic voice. Gleams of subdued percussion also pull the song in a new direction. Both then harmonize naturally with Christian’s deeper voice. ‘When The Music Ends’ is rich on lyrics and sounds almost exotic due to the synthesizer contributions that cleverly fulfill each song. By the time of the last song, ‘Like A Phoenix’, I am , as always, completely resigned to the music. Just follow your thoughts as they run through. A guitar slowly strengthens in volume and is complemented by echoing vocals that stretch out throughout the tune. It’s a real shame that ‘When The Music Ends’ has only come out only in a limited edition of 50 copies, as is the usual hinah policy. Christian has already expressed a big interest in remixing the album and re-releasing it for him on another for him suitable label, and not letting the music really end.

Track Listing:-

1 Addicted To Time
2 Going Nowhere
3 Reversing The Pale Sun
4 Dark Corners
5 When The Music Ends
6 Like A Phoenix