French composer Melaine Dalibert here with Eden, Fall (ICI D’AILLEURS MIND TRAVELS MT20), a follow-up to their 2022 release Shimmering for same label. As before the piano dominates, enhanced by near-imperceptible drone and light echo wash.
The intention has been to structure the album to ask questions about the passing of time, or our perception of it; there’s one long piece at the start, a major-key mini-rhapsody suggesting our lives are an innocent garden of delights, an Eden; and our existence ends with a ‘Fall’, a piece using staccato and pointillist techniques to evoke an Autumnal air rather than describing an Old Testament Fall Of Man theme. In between these two milestones, comes the ‘Jeu de Vagues’, a lively excursion, but it’s so brief as to suggest that Melaine Dalibert perceives man’s existence as fleeting and uncertain, at best.
I may be finding more depth of meaning than the music actually supports; it’s melodic, pleasant, listenable and well-executed, but doesn’t really take us anywhere, and remains “pretty” when we’re hoping for something more beautiful. (10/06/2024)