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BENOIT PIOULARD - Precis

BENOIT PIOULARD - Precis
Kranky
CD // £13.99
FOLK / AMERICANA
Released: Oct 2006
Catalogue Number: KRANK098
Estimated time of shipping: 1-3 days

BENOIT PIOULARD - Precis, Kranky

Benoît Pioulard, despite the rather European sounding name, is actually the pseudonym of 22 year-old American Thomas Meluch. Some of you might remember him from the gorgeous 'Enge' 7" not so long ago on Moodgadget, but since then he's been snapped up by the rather fabulous Kranky label and there couldn't possibly have been a better home for his whimsical take on electrocuted indie. 'Précis' is the kind of album that wears it's influences on it's sleeve and is all the better for it - in fact you can hear so much you've heard before it's hard to even pick out specific comparisons, and in the end that's Meluch's strength as a producer and songwriter. The tirelessly lo-fi production juxtaposed with his naïve and harrowingly heartfelt vocals works so much better than it should, and the quality of songwriting reveals itself when you wake up morning after morning with the tunes buzzing away in your head (trust me on this one...). On first listen the songs can simply wash over you, beautiful in their sound but seemingly unremarkable, and then without warning you find yourself going back time and time again, and with each listen the tracks reveal something extra. Take 'Ext. Leslie Park' for example, the faintly distorted layers of noise and acoustic guitar may bear comparisons to Khonnor or Boy in Static, but listen again and the distant melodies become engrained in your psyche. The crumbling recording style seems to have just as much in common with the current nu-folk/psyche scene as it does with electronica or indie and it's honesty and it's lack of polish is in the end it's greatest asset. The album sounds almost like those hallowed raw demos from your favourite indie artist, you know the ones people tell you were so much better than any of the 'studio recordings'; you can hear tape running in the background, the hiss of open microphones and cheap guitar cables and the songs are all the better for it. Meluch also has a knack for breaking up the more traditional tracks with slices of ambience or field recording giving the album a sense of unity and propelling it forward wonderfully. And the fact that it takes twelve tracks before you get to the album's clear highlight 'Sous La Plage' is as inspired as it is daring, when you finally reach it you feel like you've played your emotional hand already - yet the track pushes you into shuffling the deck and starting all over again. Listen, fall in love and then listen again - you won't be disappointed...

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