Customer Reviews

Les Ondes Silencieuses

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

_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.

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!

Sometimes the artwork of a cd foreshadows a fantastic musical journey awaiting the listener. Unfortunately, Les Ondes Silencieuses is not the case. The artwork by iker spozio is sublime to say the least, one of the best cd covers I've seen in a while. It suggests a dreamy landscape full of nocturnal visions. The music, however, is a disastrous mess. Minimalism is beautiful when the it is inspired. Experimental music is fascinating when it is inspired. But Colleen was far from inspired here. She grabbed instruments she did not play well and tried to create a collection of pieces that suffer from a lack of musical skills. The cello and harpsichord tracks especially are painful to listen to. The album is at its best when she plays the guitar and the clarinet. But nevertheless, it is a big let down. I might be totally wrong. Give it a try and see if you like it. I recommend her two previous albums: Everyone Alive Wants Answers, and The Golden Morning Breaks.