Nuages Du Monde

Delerium | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nettwerk Records
• ASIN: B000I0QKBU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,747 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There aren't a lot of musicians who actually start a trend, but as Delerium, Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb can take credit for the ethereal-girl genre of dream-pop electronica. From early releases like Karma, which included singer Sarah McLachlan, they've specialized in a mixture of lush, almost romantic electronica coupled with female singers that tend toward the ecstatic. Their latest album, Nuages du Monde, is no exception. Fulber and Leeb bring in a host of singers, from the operatic soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian to Punjabi Bollywood singer Kiran Ahluwalia. Also on board are old favorites the Mediæval Bæbes, whose "Blow Northern Wind" is sampled and adapted with new vocals on "Extoller." Kristy Thrisk, who goes back to the earliest vocal works of Delerium on Semantic Spaces, returns, joined by Kirsty Hawkshaw--a singer who's already been a favorite foil for artists like BT, Orbital, and DJ Tiësto. Along with Jael's "Lost and Found," Hawkshaw's "Fleeting Instant" is among the most likely pop singles from the disc. Like their previous album, Chimera, Nuages du Monde ("Clouds of the World") flirts dangerously with soporifically shlocky arrangements, but they've pulled back considerably, thickening the beats and trading synth strings for real on many tracks. The tribal "Sister Sojourn Ghost," the Bæbes' second appearance on the disc, is one of the few tracks that play with the formula, as an uncharacteristically primal chant from the Bæbes treads a dark, percussive groove. A bit more of that would have lifted Nuages du Monde beyond what seems to be a business-as-usual approach by Delerium. --John Diliberto

Product Description

Lush electronic soundscaping with soaring, ethereal female vocals, emotive beats and colourful world elements. Delerium's unique style blossoms once again here in full opulent glory - the undulating synth arrangements, multi-layered and constantly varying are at their richest; strings, pianos and all manner of the global waves and samples fill the air with an exotic scent, the percussive structures inhabit that twilight space somewhere between live and digital, organic ethnic loops deftly entwined. Deep flutes and eastern wires frequently thicken the atmosphere and spacious interludes allow the synths room to evolve and shine - cycling, morphing arpeggios, doleful drones, beautiful shifting melodies. Many of the songs are wordless or sultry, moody affairs that work in smooth conjunction with the sumptuous programming, quirky, catchy themes that hit angelic highs and wistful lows brimming with emotion

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nuages du Monde: A Return to the Delerium I love, December 3, 2006

By 

Petar Vodogaz "Commissioner" (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nuages Du Monde (Audio CD)

I was bitterly disappointed by 'Chimera' and could not get into that album. Just like Enigma, the creators of Delerium, the synth-industrial masters Leeb & Fulber has taken Delerium into a more streamlined, mainstream sound. I will not shy away from stating I am a fan of the early Delerium sound and miss it horribly (even though I have all their albums), but 'Nuages Du Monde' exceeded my estimations and expectations of this album. Indeed, Delerium have returned to form, Leeb and Fulber have heard their fan based and merged their own expectations of the future of Delerium with fan wants and needs.

This album was produced in Canada by Leeb and Fulber with the programming done by Fulber. Fulber and Leeb keep on astonishing me with their releases with Delerium and FLA and the several other side projects they have in the works. They are very talented and at the moment the best in the industrial scene with the likes of D.J Tiesto, Orbital, Covenant and Kraftwerk. It was also good to see the album was labeled by Nettwork Records. They have had a long and rich association and it is good to see this association continuing and the support recieved has shown in this remarkable album.

As in Chimera, Semantic Spaces and Poem, Delerium continues to employ the graces of beautiful female vocal leads in their songs and we have Kristy Thirsk and Jael returning as well as the Mediaeval Baebes. I do miss Sarah McLachlan and wished she had sung lyrics in at least one song. Would have made this album that much more priceless. However this album sees the first time appearance of Kirsty Hawkshaw who sings vocals in alot of DJ Tiesto's masterpieces. She has a beautiful and talented voice. Another new vocalist is the classical induced Isabel Bayrakdarian of Persian heritage who has a unique voice on par with Sarah Brightman. She was beautiful to listen to in 'Lumenis'.

There are only 2 songs in this release that is unvocalised and a return to the early Delerium sounds and they were my favourite songs. 'Tectonic Shift' is the longest song and purely instrumental where Leeb and Fulber use synths to return Delerium to the fans. The last song on the CD is 'Apparition', which is also instrumental and a pure pleasure to listen to.

My faith has returned in Delerium and I look forward with bated breath to their next release due in 2008. This album is for all Delerium fans, early fans or not. Everyone can take enough from this album.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A return to form while still progressing., October 12, 2006

By 

J. Mcdaniel "life explorer" (GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nuages Du Monde (Audio CD)

I find this album to be my favorite since Semantic Spaces, but in its own way. They definitely started down a particular path with Karma onward, but Chimera and Poem just didn't grab me. This one does, and shakes hard. I found myself moved to tears in some spots, much like the first time I heard "Silence" or "Flowers Become Screens" - it's somewhat less sensual, unfortunately, but still evocative, touching, moving. I'd been worried that things would turn too "pop" ever since Poem, but this represents a return to complexity I just didn't feel in those last two albums.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Yikes! How can such brilliant, prolific artists create such drivel?, October 23, 2006

By 

Ian Curtis "joydivision8" (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nuages Du Monde (Audio CD)

Ok. I have been a fan of Bill Leeb & Rhys Fulber's work for a LONG time. Delerium, Front Line Assembly, & virtually every other side project they have done. They are legends as far as I am concerned and have created some of the best music of the last 15 years. Delerium started as several albums of dark beat-less ambient music. This changed with the "Semantic Spaces" release. Despite the change to a more dancey approach, the album was brilliant and beautiful, featuring lush ethereal sounds and fresh rhythms as well as chants and female vocals. They followed it up with an absolute masterpiece in "Karma". Gorgeous ethereal sounds mixed with tight blippy programming loops and perfect female vocals. Hanting and enchanting and blissful. Then things started to go downhill. "Poem" was OK, but the change in style was concerning...more pop and less mysterious/ ethereal sounding. The vocals and lyrics were more straightforward and "poppy" as well. Then "Chimera". Yikes. Total pop stuff suited for adult contemporary radio. I almost didn't buy the new album, but I can never count these guys out, so I got it. First off, some of the songs do at least have a little more of the ethereal sounds, so I like that. The problem is that the songs are not catchy or interesting, and sound very generic. Also, the style is still way too poppy and sounds like they are trying way to hard to create a radio hit. I listened to this the first time with a friend who is also a fan and we were literally cringing several times at how bad some of the songs are. The best songs are the instrumental songs. I LOVE Kristy Thirsk's voice, she has been a highlight of Delerium for years...but her songs here don't suit her vocal style and sound uninspired. If you liked the last couple Delerium albums, you may like this, but I yearn for the mesmerising artistry that made Semantic Spaces and Karma great. This stuff is decent background music, but don't expect too much.