Franck Vigroux — We (nous actress)
The album starts with rumbling low-frequency ambient/field recordings and layers of delicate electronic sounds that slowly get noisier and noisier, only to crumble down to a simple and relaxing synthetic tone. Not a bad introduction at all, since the constant movement and change keep things interesting.
Second track "Ashes IV" features a distorted synth (or guitar? who knows) loop, slow and dirty drum machine beats, and piercing feedback/synth sounds dwindling on top of it all. It's more monotone than the first track, but it's quite good nonetheless, even if it feels more like a sketch than anything. The short "Death In Paris" features electronic farting and sputter, bizarre field recordings and a robotized voice that reminded me of Kraftwerk's celebration of the autobahn. Not bad!
The following track "Bruisme" starts with classic abrupt materic noises endemic to this kind of music, then supplanted by electronic crackling and buzzing, then surmounted by layers of mellow synthesizer sounds.
With "Traits" things get noisy again, with (digitally, I believe) distorted synth loops and beats that somehow reminded me of some old Wolf Eyes material. They're not exactly my favorite kind of noises but I guess this boils down to personal taste. The track works pretty well and like all the rest of the album it's very well composed."Ashes II" makes good use of ambient sounds, silence and of the same weird robot voice so I cant' complain much about it.
"La Mort" features, among other things. sudden Schimpfluch Gruppe-ish crude body noises, manipulated opera singing and noisy guitar - surprisingly everything works together really well.
"Ininferna" is a messy bulk of digital noise punctuated by a constant beat. I appreciate the insistence on the use of high pitch (i guess either guitar or microphone) feedback, which is one of my favorite sounds but as usual I'm a bit put off by the overly digital sound. "Fire" is a mix of disquieting low frequency rumbles, mellow electronic noises, digital noise and vocals. It sounds like a big pot of broth boiling next of a huge computer from the fifties.
The final track "Crash" is the lengthiest of the record, clocking at fourteen minutes, and it features pretty much all the elements used in the previous pieces: digital noise, robotic vocals, synth sounds, fast cut-up noise, beats etc. I think the shorter tracks worked better but I can't say it's a bad effort.
I fond "We (nous actress)" to be ok. It's not really my cup of tea, but it's definitely composed by someone who knows what they're doing. Also, Vigroux's robot voice saves this album from sounding too boring and serious, like the grim titles and artwork could suggest. It's definitely recommended to people who're into experimental electronics and electro-acoustics. If you're looking for anything else, just skip this album.