#CHRONIQUE / EN : CIRCUS BAZAAR

#CHRONIQUE / EN : CIRCUS BAZAAR 

Have a listen to the world through the ears of Bagatelle and enter a space of fluent progressive serendipitous pop.  It is pleasant and personable, music to please. There are sweet jazz voicing’s and the vocal work of Andrea Vaughn is well complimented by Jérôme Meriaux.

When Bagatelle pass the friendly intro of ‘Hey Darlin’ they move into the styling you would be familiar with if you’d listened to Kings of Convenience.  The second track ‘Jackson’ has an almost urgency with the guitar, which sounds great through headphones. This track goes in multiple directions and includes a George Clinton inspired funk element. The Jazz influence is again present and welcoming in ‘Tchau singo’. Expect this to invoke the release of happy endorphins. Dentists could reduce their reliance on nitros-oxide by playing this song on repeat.

‘In Place of Mister Cook’, starts off with the Bagatelle signature and I get the feeling these guys like to keep the writing interesting not only for the listener, but also to enjoy themselves as they perform. The highlight in ‘Singing Reinette’ is the panning of the delay in the speakers, highlighting the production value of this EP.  ‘La Mer a Paris’ takes the EP out, be ready for the scatting, and the sirens (I had to remove my headphones to make sure there where no emergency service vehicles). 

I feel for the producer on this EP as there is a lot to mix. There is a full compliment of sounds, instruments and effects, however, there remains a dreamy space ever present in the mix. There is a clear understanding and awareness of chordal progressions and musical structure. Like a miner they seem to extract as much as they can. Their approach to song writing keeps you engaged, more than a passive listener. Each time you listen through, you pick up on a phrase of music you didn’t hear the first time. The EP is addictive and I await a full length LP… A great deal of focus and dedication has been invested in these six tracks – lyrics penned in French then translated and adapted into English, months of writing and recording and skypeing (if that can be a verb) across the globe. The result is twenty plus minutes of pure listening pleasure thanks to this group from western Paris.

Review by : Craig Bradbrook (Musical review columnist)

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