CHROMB! - Cinq

C

Dur et Doux

CHROMB! describe themselves as "a quartet with strings, reeds, 88 keys and drums in, wired on 220 volts, making rock with no guitar, distorted jazz or chamber music for sick kids and emotive adults." They're based in Lyon and inhabit the exotic strain of French pop which ranges from Louis Philippe to Daft Punk.

"Cinq" is their fifth album in a 10 year career and they describe it as "dancefloors... charged with absurdity, melodies too pretty to be true, head voices and howls, sometimes it's a song, sometimes it's not, but in any case it's generous and sincere." They namecheck influences including John Carpenter, DAF, the Beach Boys, Errorsmith and John Zorn. It's Errorsmith which I was most reminded of when hitting the play button. The soundworld is proudly electronic with the saxes and acoustic drums of their earlier albums well disguised.

Track 1 is electro pop with a glitchy video game feel. "La cérémonie" introduces harmony vocals and lo-fi samples; it's hard to tell what is improvised and what sequenced. "Roupoutoum contre Routoupoume" is the sort of thing people made on Amiga computers - and that's meant as a compliment! There is not much top or bass but a great off-beam groove which is very infectious.

"Pauvre Brobre" offers compelling silences and paused drones, Stockhausen style psycho-acoustics, leading into prog rockish riffs, headbanging and distorted screams with more than a hint of Syd Barrett. "Le Prince" starts with outrageously off-beat cross rhythms building over 5 minutes of theremin like slides and industrial drilling to other worldly orchestras. "Rongongonfre" is a montage of abstract glitches with machine gun percussion, sounding more like a group improvisation than the other pieces and a lot of fun.

Final track "Et des couteaux" is the longest at 6.30. It's the only obvious "song" on the album with excellent harmony vocals, carefully blending push/pull counterpoint with jazzy chording before a final minute of solo electronic snare drum playing a martial beat.

This is a finely balanced album, avant garde, playful yet carefully structured. It's not like anything I've listened to in the past 20 years but it's refreshing and mysterious, so I'm glad to have listened.

© Stephen Godsall

Musicians:

Antoine Mermet : saxophone, synth, delay, voice, compositions
Camille Durieux : synths, voice
Léo Dumont : drums, voice
Lucas Hercberg : bass, voice, compositions

You can stream free and buy on Bandcamp