Les Ondes Silencieuses

Colleen, Colleen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: The Leaf Label
• ASIN: B000OPP7GS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,794 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Cécile Schott returns with her third album as Colleen, the highly personal, distinctly adventurous and confident Les Ondes Silencieuses, which follows Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique from late 2006. This album signals a change of approach for Parisienne Schott. Gone are the samples and loops of old, as the emphasis moves to the natural tones produced by a range of unusual live instruments.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet waves on the shores of scarcity, June 27, 2007

By 

Black Eagle Child (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Les Ondes Silencieuses (Audio CD)

The title of this album is pristinely apt.

This is my first experience with the artist Colleen and I am completely hooked by the sound exhibited on this record. Every track begins gently and builds itself into a beautiful mixture of despair and apprehension. The album itself isn't depressing, but (and you ought to be able to tell this from the cover) it is perceivable that the music is designed to be taken seriously and listened to closely.

If you are expecting impressive technique or wild performances, you may be disappointed. Where "Les Ondes Silencieuses" succeeds most is in the texture and emotion of every piece of sound. The layers of orchestration are put down slowly, so as to build apprehension. First a cello, then a guitar, then a clarinet, etc. Even moments in which little sound is made are important. With this scarcity, Colleen draws up in her listeners a desire for more texture, another wave of emotion. The record oscillates between peaks of overwhelming feeling.

This is really a fine piece of neo-classical music and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for instrumental music that you can really listen to. This is not background music!

5.0 out of 5 stars Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses, May 16, 2011

By 

scoundrel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Les Ondes Silencieuses (Audio CD)

_Les Ondes Silencieuses_ sees Colleen leaning a little more on the stringed instruments -- the viola de gamba, in particular. But the haunting strains of "This Place in Time" shows her to be as much a master of this as the harpsichord-like spinet on "Le Labyrinthe" (a track almost minimal in its classicism) or the clarinet (on the haunting "Sun Against My Eyes"). "Blue Sands" merges her guitar and the viola with a sense of quiet wonder, while "Echoes and Coral" extends that wonder through the clear, ringing tones of struck crystal glass. The sparseness of "Past the Long Black Land" emphasizes the silences between the instruments as much as the instruments themselves. Another stunning album.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly minimalist chamber music, August 20, 2009

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Les Ondes Silencieuses (Audio CD)

Colleen's latest offering isn't so much a departure from her previous work, as it is a stripping down to bare musical bones. The result is something just as enchanting as that previous work, but with the child-like fragility & loveliness muted in favor of an older child's grave & somber contemplation of the world. The beauty is still there, but the awareness of shadows & mortality is far more present now. Rather than being depressing, though, this makes for a shimmering, ghostly world in which innocence has been tempered with sorrow, resulting in an even deeper realization of the transience & preciousness of life. This is thoughtful without being coldly cerebral music, filled with passion that's expressed in a subtle, understated fashion.

Most highly recommended!