Customer Reviews

Cheval Sombre

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Ultra Slow Drive, where Cheval Sombre [which means Dark Horse in French] meets Spacemen 3, Dean & Britta [late of Galaxie 500 and Luna], and it's all been produced and directed by Sonic Boom [now with Spectrum]. This grouping of eleven songs flow effortlessly, winding, spiraling, floating, and are about as touchable as a smoke ring rising, disappearing, and becoming one with the breeze that gently touches your skin, reminding you that life lived with more awareness certainly increases one's scope of the universe.

This album, by the one man band Cheval Sombre, was recorded over the last two years, proving that time well spent, does bring bright lustrous rewards. This is a mind bending release of acoustic drone, psychedelic American folk music meeting and then exploding like hallucinations melting on the backs of your eyelids, and deep in your subconscious. Two of the songs are traditional numbers, arranged brilliantly, and sparkle with simple electronic background effects ... "Troubled Mind" and "I've Been All Around This World." There's also a dynamic cover of The Doors' song "Hyacinth," originally from the L.A. Woman album, reminding me that Jim Morrison and The Doors should be cited more often when it comes to brilliant psychedelic sounds.

This is one of the most beautiful, peaceful, blissful albums I've ever heard, drawing influences from across time and space, creating something much larger than the sum of its parts. The vocals are soft and engaging, prodding you to pay attention, but taking your mind so far off that it's often difficult to find your way back. I can't decide whether I should be gently swaying, getting high, or just bobbing my head to the blues strummings ... never the less, anyone with any outward expansive musical taste is gonna' fall in love with this grouping of songs, a piece of music that in no way rolls over you, so much as it moves through you by osmosis, with liquid purity. -- Jenell Kesler

I really tried. I'm a big D&B fan which is how I know of them. But the cd is quite the downer, it's hard to get through. Sorry.