Maginot — Self Titled

Maginot is a new two-piece harsh noise project that brings together Frenchman Romain Perrot most known for his walled noise work as Vomir, and brit noise maker & academic Paul Hegarty of project Safe and author of Noise/Music: A History. This self-titled CD is the project first release, and it takes in twenty minutes of sound spread over four tracks.

The pro pressed CD is presented in a glossy mini gatefold- this features on its front & back, a monochrome picture of close- up of the pair’s set-up, and the pair performing live. Inside we have a picture of a submarine in dock. The release appears on Perrot's own label Decimation Sociale- not sure what the pressing is, but I’m guessing it’s not huge- so I’d advise acting sooner than later if you want to hook up a copy.

The albums layout finds two lengthy thirteen-to-fourteen minute tracks in the center of the album, and the book ended by two shorter around one-minute tracks. So kicking things off we have  “Sub” here we get a blend of blunt grinding noise churn & Perrot chatting dada vocals, that he uses on his more demented folk projects. Next, we have the first of the long tracks- this is entitled “Push”- & it finds a mix of muffled radio advert & phone call audio which is detailing auto insurance in France for Americans, and a man sorting out his insurance over the phone. Over this we get a shifting blend of squalling, baying, twisting & buzzing noise matter which at points takes in worthy junk metal texturing- these elements move between subtle-to-more intense & ragged, and through-out these elements remain lose & crude. The tracks nicely eventful & shifting, with repeating plays revealing more amusing elements of the audio samples, and worthy noise detail.

Next we have the track “Drain”- this carries on from the first track, with the same insurance sample, though this shifts & disappears in time becoming more random/ muddled. For this track the pair is a lot more active in their sound craft- we get a blend of knocking & scraping junk, warbling & twitching electro tones,  Romain’s dada & animalistic wails, scraping & crudely droning low ends, and towards  the end more rhythmic & chugging old school industrial fare. The final track “ Edgar Froese” nicely drifts things off in a more moody-if-subtle unsettling manner with a blend of lo-fi ambience and uneasy tonal shifts.

All told this self-titled debut is a worthy & replayable example of loose, active, yet at times playful & moody harsh noise- I look forward to seeing what the pair do next together, and it’s a really pity I missed them on their recent London date supporting Vomir.