Kiko C. Esseiva - Sous Les Etoiles [Hinterzimmer - 2008]Kiko C. Esseiva is a composer with Swiss and Spanish roots who creates electro acoustic/Musique concrete sound pieces, which are best described as a more conventionally music based version of early Nurse with Wound’s work. With a more playful less sinister ‘n’ surreal vibe to them too, Sous Les Etoiles is his third album and first for relatively new experimental label Hinterzimmer. The tracks use often a harmonic base of droning, sawed or picked string work, looped and effect peddle fed rhythmic elements, piano and slight synth textures. To which’s he lays moulds and twists on all manner of multi-lingual texts, monk chants and vocalising. Along with street noise, scissor snips, apple crunchers, creeks ‘n’ groans, water sounds and all manner of self made and environmental sound. On the whole it’s an enjoyable, quirky and a surrealistic cinematic ride though on the downside many of the sounds and way there used have been used many times before by others. I think this is at it’s best when Esseiva is concentrating more on the harmonic and drone elements of the tracks and less on the sound elements which just feel at times too clichéd for there own good
I’ll certainly be interested to hearing Esseiva future work as when he wants to he can conjure up some dramatic musical & sound lined pieces which create memorable and strange sonic worlds. He just needs to dump of lot of the clichéd over used sound source recordings found on Sous Les Etoiles and I’m sure he'll have the makings of something rather special.
   Roger Batty
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