Sylvain Chauveau & Felicia Atkinson - Romain Anglais
[O Rosa]

An interesting collaboration this, pitting Parisian sound sculptor Sylvain Chauveau (of FatCat and Type Records fame) with French chanteuse Felicia Atkinson, who is a student of Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy no less.

Chauveau plays Ranaldo to Atkinson’s Kim Gordon during this suite of four songs that have actually been around for sometime. “Romain Anglais” is mood music; not the horrific pan-pipe type advertised incessantly on TV, but sounds that portray an aura of loneliness, detachment and even darkness. It is a record for candlelit, incense-scented rooms or those fleeting few moments between consciousness and sleep. It is not a discernibly ambient record, but it is oh so quiet.

Chauveau provides a shimmering backdrop throughout; each sound appears to have been measured by a slide-rule, while silence is as important as any other component featured here. His nuanced atmospherics shift slowly, clouding into a Labradford like aesthetic. Drones merge with elliptical guitar parts and recurring loops of frothy sound to create a body of work that is both warm and elegant, vaguely recalling New York chamber outfit Slow Six. It provides an intriguing template for Atkinson’s seductive spoken word vignettes, as she switches effortlessly between French and English. Her half-monotone monologues do possess a certain alluring charm.

Truth be told, though, “Romain Anglais” is a bit of an enigma. It straddles the fine line between immersion and distraction, often falling into the latter. On one hand, you have the outstanding “Aberdeen”, which features Atkinson’s barely audible soliloquy of European cities over Chauveau’s exquisite backdrop. On the other, you get the laboured “How the Light”, where too much emphasis is placed upon Atkinson’s performance, while little attention is paid to Chauveau.

In contrast “Dans Le Lumière” is brimming with captivating Machinefabriek-esque tension, as disconcerting binary noise and machine emissions intercept the orchestral like beauty of Chauveau’s calming environment. Atkinson pays heed, delicately sprinkling her seductive tones over such beautiful music. At times, though, the duo seems to be purposefully building in the direction of a crescendo-laden finish, only to let their compositions meander for far too long. This is especially apparent in the 17 minute title track, which loses its focus and impact despite its excellent onomatopoeic origins.

It’s all rather frustrating as there is some truly stunning moments on this disc, while there is certainly life left in this collaborative project yet. Over the course of four compositions it is more hit than miss, but you would need serious amounts of resilience to listen, uninterrupted, to a full album’s worth of material.

Romain Anglais Track Listing:

1. Aberdeen
2. How The Light
3. Dans Le Lumière
4. Romain Anglais