An album titled Songs and Stuff Recorded Between 2003 and 2007, Part One needs little explanation, I assume. However, you might (quite reasonably) be wondering who this Rudy Trouvé fellow is.
Depending on how old your are (and what sort of music you were into), you may remember a seminal Belgian art-rock group of the mid-90s called dEUS. Rudy Trouvé was a founder member of dEUS, whose distinctive guitar style contributed to their unique sound, but that was merely the beginning of an extensive career that has seen him form or play in a number of Belgium’s most important bands.
That said, a familiarity with dEUS won’t really prepare you for the music of the Rudy Trouvé Septet. And I might as well be upfront and say that if you’re the sort of listener who mistrusts anything that isn’t cooked in distortion and overdrive, you may want to walk away now.
Are you still here? Excellent! There’s plenty to be gained by sticking around with an open mind, and the music of Mr. Trouvé and friends is a fine example of that.
I suppose the best way to describe the material here would be to call it whimsical alt-indie-folk … which is pretty useless as a catch-all term, but that’s my entire point. You can’t really put these playful sketches and nonchalant songlets into a box that can fit them all.
You’ve got little solo skits - just Rudy and a guitar and some thoughtful mumblings. You’ve got some slightly skewed alt-country tinged pop songs stripped back to minimalism. You’ve got some lounge-jazz wig-outs, with weird old organ tones and second-hand synths. You’ve got some surreal little numbers based on looping guitar hooks or a repeated vocal phrase that border on the psychedelic without ever quite crossing the line into licking toads and talking to people who aren’t there. You’ve got some playful lo-fi pop, some momentary melancholic brooding, and some brief slices of utter silliness.
See what I mean? Impossible to classify, but well worth a listen. A change is as good as a rest, and if you give it a chance the material on Songs and Stuff Recorded Between 2003 and 2007, Part One will bring a smile to your face … not to mention leave a few little hooks in your mind that will rattle around in there for the rest of the day. Take some time out, and relax with the Rudy Trouvé Septet.
Related articles:
Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: fun, jazz, pop, psychedelic, weird
