Melmac - les secours arrivent et prennent le relais

  by John Clarkson

published: 4 / 8 / 2003

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Review

Melmac have chosen, like Sigur Ros with their untitled album of last year, not to give names to any of the 11 tracks on their new CD, 'Les Secours Arrivent and Prennent Le Relais'. Each track is introduced instead with a symbol. The 'Pause' and 'Rewind' markings, that appear on hi-fis and cassette recorders, are two of them. The 'Restore' symbol that is used on computers is another, and there is also a no smoking sign, a question mark and a cross. Melmac have always, however, had an off-kilter way at looking at the world. The group, a post rock/electronica duo, was first formed by two Parisian brothers, Luc and Nicolas Reverter, in 1998, and has previously released two studio-based EPs,'On Efface Tout et On Recommence' (1999) and '00 : 20 : 37' (2001), and also two improvised live mini-albums, 'P1 Vs P2' ( 2001) and 'Game_02' (2002). Several of Melmac’s recordings have also appeared on compilations. 'Les Secours Arrivent and Prennent Le Relais', which is limited to 500 copies and another studio offering, is the Reverters' second release, following on from 'Game_02', on their own Ronda label, and ts heir first full-length album. While Sigur Ros's music is epic in tone, conjuring up images of their native Iceland, and glaciers, fjords and mountains,Melmac are both more insular and introverted . The Reverter Brothers' music has a minimilistic, industrialised edginess. Clanking, churning noises, ticking clocks, rasping bells and the sound samples of small children playing, rush hour traffic and hubbubs of people are balanced on 'Les Secours Arrivent and Prennent Le Relais' with brooding, resonating guitar chords and humming Casiotrons to create a beautiful, but often melancholic and sinister sound. Philip Glass and Steve Reich are both obvious comparisions, but Melmac, in their urbanity, also carry something which is distinctly their own as well. The last track, which has as its symbol a small picture of a lorry, is a collaboration with the Seattle group, the Transmissionary Six, and is a reworking of a song, 'Purely Medicinal', from that band's recent album, 'Spooked'. Singer Terri Moeller's ethereal vocals are fed through a distorter, and the whole tune is given an eerie and surreal gloss with the addition of a warbling, popping synthesiser. Melmac's twisted form of rock is a genuinely haunting and compulsive, if disturbing experience. Its implication seems to be that the world is an occasionally wonderful, but frequently bizarre and frightening place. That is perhaps too heavy and offbeat a thought in current pop culture for the Reverter Brothers to remain anything but a cult success. For electronica and post-rock fans looking for something which is a little different from the norm, 'Les Secours Arrivent and Prennent Le Relais' is, however, both an exciting option and also an excellent introduction to Melmac's unique sound.

Track Listing:-

1 B.
2 F.
3 E.
4 M.
5 4.
6 G.
7 I.
8 V.
9 T.
10 K.
11 M2.