Specio
Specio
FRANCE PROHIBITED RECORDS PRO 068CD C.D. (2024)
…being a French male/female studio-based twosome, now well established in certain underground outposts of their native country. The noise-rock tendencies of band members Nicolas Laureau (gtr/keys/perc) and vocalist Sasha Andrès, with Prohibition and Héliogebale respectively, now seemingly inching towards more ethereal territory. More recent projects such as Don Nino, NLF3 and A Shape leaving a breadcrumbed trail of clues sound wise.
Inevitably with any ethereal rubberstamping, comes crib sheet talk of ‘the cult with no aim’, otherwise known as ‘Shoegazing’. However, with considerably more fibre in their diet, they manage to dodge the clammy grasp of Slowdive, Lush and their followers. Opening with a native-tongued tip of the cap to Belgian poet Henri Michaux, “Ex-Agir” matches solitary acoustic guitar with attractive piano confectionary that is shadowed by an unsettling distant whirring, somehow sounding like its origins came from the schematics of an early edition of ‘Practical Electronics’. A change in tempo occurs with the languid strains of “Birds Nest” in which the heavily gauged six-string figures recall Angelo Badalamenti’s tenure at Twin Peaks (population: 51201). The intriguingly titled “Vertical Janus” steps up the unease quotient a shade with an x-rated, table-turning exercise in spectral keyboards and the rusted clangs of guest guitarist and Sister Iodine member Erik Minkkinen.
With Laureau’s involvement with both Françoiz Breut and Brisa Roché, adding to the mix, plus Sasha’s shoehorning in of a pro acting career (!), it might be time for the duo to cool these scattershot bursts of creativity and take stock. Because, on the strength of this, ‘Project Specio’ should really read more like a novel and less like a few lines from a short story.