Customer Reviews

Alone Not Alone

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Review by: Mark Teppo at [...]

(02.18.05) Antoine Bédard has seduced M83; it is his string compositions which grace their recently released Before the Dawn Heals Us (Mute, 2005). Now, with his second release as Montag -- Alone, Not Alone -- he's out to entice the rest of us with his delicate micro-symphonies and elegantly weightless pop. Shining with a digital polish, his analog melodies and orchestral flourishes caper and cavort like Disney-fied animals in a field of sunflowers while he and his vocalists (Amy Millan on two tracks, Ariel Engle on one) wander through the trackless fields of flowers in a haze of wistful nostalgia. Taken as a thematic statement, the title of the record captures the dichotomy of the modern creative process: the digital abstraction which huffs and squirts and whispers across the tracks arrayed against the bountiful echoes of the collaborative aspect of pop songs wherein the writer directs a band, a string ensemble and a bevy of vocalists.

The slow brush of percussion and the wandering woodwind section of "Figures of a New Color" paint a rain-swept city street (Paris, in my mind, naturally), populated by the slumbering motion of forgotten lovers, their nostalgia for their lost companions gently pushing them along the water-stained streets. The melancholic narrative voice of "All I See" drips with heartache, a palpable resonance behind his words and the delicate and wry melody. Processed field recordings sneak in for the last two minutes of "Perfect Vision" and drain away all the Mazzy Star-esque heartbreak that has lingers in the wake of Amy Millan's voice. Clavecin, organ and brushed cymbal spin into the early twilight in the penultimate "Exit Mélodie" as the solitary odes of Alone, Not Alone draw to a conclusion; this final fade is tempered, naturally, by a re-visitation of the song for the last track by the combined percussion, strings and winds who have provided material on preceding tracks, an affirmation of the belief that not all solitary travelers are alone.

Alone, Not Alone is the sort of pop that I can still find enthusiasm for: unobtrusive, wistful, innocent and filled with organic textures. Antoine Bédard 's Montag clears my head as I consider how transparent orchestral pop heard over my headphones seems like it has been written just for me. The rest of the world can easily pass you by while you pause to listen to Montag. That's not a bad thing, and you're not alone while you step off the path. "Your life hasn't started yet," Ariel Engle sings of "Grand Luxe." Nor is it over yet, either.

Symphonic glitch? Montag, on his album ALONE, NOT ALONE, makes it work, believe it or not. "Grand Luxe" sounds like trip-pop confection scored by a Francophone John Williams. The tracks here veer towards the calm and gentle -- very chanson-esque. "Perfect Vision" modulates its sunny disposition with moments of electronic glitchery. The relatively short "Time DIfference II" pours on the cheery atmosphere thick and dense, like warm syrup on pancakes. "Figures of a New Color" takes an almost opposite tack, leaning more towards stately elegance, while "Angles, Country & Terrain Connu" is much more 'traditional' folktronica. "Les Choses Se Placent" takes a lone string melody and submerges it under careful layers. Although the album is relatively short, it makes quite an impact.