Chrominance Decoder

April March | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 1999)
• Original Release Date: February 2, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mammoth / Pgd
• ASIN: B00000HZPT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,224 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1999

This entirely original and strange record ultimately seduces with a quirky grace. Where does one begin to describe what's contained within Chrominance Decoder? A melange of '60s girl pop, Yé Yé, garage rock, Beach Boys harmonies, Gainsbourgian crooning, spy-movie soundtracks, cheezy jazz, Japanese "idoru" preening, trip-hop grooves, Lolitaesque come-ons, loungy dithers, and cartoon ditties--the genius behind this delicious concoction is Elinor ("April March isn't my Christian name," she coos), a California girl by way of New England who sings in both French and English with unconscious ease. Wow. --Tod Nelson

Product Description

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sonic candy., January 21, 2000

By 

Adam Carroll - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chrominance Decoder (Audio CD)

One listen to the opening track, `Garden of April', sets the tone for the rest of the album. Simple piano melodies, a friendly, not at all serious background beat, and of course April March's voice singing gaily away - this IS a pop record, as the essay in the liner notes confirms. Mostly the layout works well - through the 19 track on Chrominance Decoder, not once does March (real name: Elinor Blake) wax poetic. The lyrics are straightforward and the music is pretty, with a few vague stabs at seriousness here and there (the title track, which comments on the consequences of fame, and the song about assault, `Sugar', come to mind). There are some places where this doesn't work so well - April sings in both English and French, and some of the French songs are a little too sweet. Additionally, some tracks are basically repeated, only with lyrics in the opposite language - the music is exactly the same in both. Regardless, though, if you just want something sweet without all those pesky implications and themes, Chrominance Decoder is for you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic pop from L.A. Francophile, March 25, 1999

By 

Nicholas Noyes (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chrominance Decoder (Audio CD)

A leap forward from her earlier work, April March's Serge Gainsbourg obsession has produced a pop classic. Songs are in French and English, and, in english at least, buzz with a snide poetry. Mme March's cool and sexy vocals go perfectly with the laid-back but infectious music. Fans of Air,Classic French Pop, early Blondie, and Japanese club pop will enjoy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paris of the Mind, October 28, 2000

By 

J. B. Upright (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chrominance Decoder (Audio CD)

I've tried to figure out what it is that draws me to the music of this petite chanteuse, and I think perhaps that it is the stirring of childhood memories: of a world ruled by reruns of ancient cartoons, of squirming in the back seat of the car, listening to the light pop vocal hits of the mid-60's. Only now, the songs are in French as well as English, and include two pieces reminiscent of the scratchy lilt of cartoon music. All of this comes together to engender a feeling of sly sentimentality that comforts my black soul, and leaves me dwelling in my own little Paris of the Mind. April March (A.K.A. Elinor Blake) lays on the spells with such songs as Charlatan and Garcon Glacon, which charm me with their - well, with their Frenchness, while her clear, soft, and intimate vocals set my hormones to trembling. The lush orchestration on Mignonette/No Parachute verges on a kind of transcendent distortion, as Herb Alpert-like horns hone in to keep the pace. Keep in Touch, one of many tracks written by producer Bertrand Burgalat, creates a sense of drifting around, alternately approaching and then retreating from the singer. The singsong approach of Mon Petit Ami makes me think of a chorus of fiercely loyal French school children belting out a personal anthem.

Her affection for the medium of animation comes through clearly in Garden of April, a happy, peppy composition that conjures up images of a chorus of singing flowers swaying in the sun, and Mon Petite Cowboy, a bouncy, fluffy instrumental retake of the Mon Petit Ami theme that inspires visuals of an animated cowboy riding the range on a lopsided horse. These two tracks bring to mind the manic musical explorations of Raymond Scott, the deeply strange and innovative composer who inadvertently scored the soundtrack to our childhood.

Peppered throughout are a few numbers with darker themes: Sugar, a song of lost innocence, Knee Socks, a metaphoric look at girls teetering on the edge of that loss, and Ideal Standard, a darkly humorous stab at a bad marriage gone comfortable.

If you're in need of that warm fuzzy sixties feeling without the attendant nausea of overplayed standards, if you have a childish sense of fun balanced with a finely honed sarcastic sensibility, go out and buy this recording. Let's support Elinor Blake in the style to which she should become accustomed.

James B. Upright, Geekly Post-Dispatch