LA NUIT SE LEVE | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Les Marquises, LP version. The brilliant songwriter Jean-Sébastien Nouveau invites many musicians to give life to this new opus, Les Marquises' third album A Night Full Of Collapses. The newcomers are Matt Elliott (featured on "Feu Pâle", "The Beguiled", "Following Strangers", and "The Passing"), Agathe Max (Ofield, Farewell Poetry), Olivier Mellano, Christian Quermalet (The Married Monk), Jeff Hallam (Dominique A), Louis Montmasson, and François Clos. They join Jonathan Grancollot (Pan Pan Pan), Souleymane Felicioli, Julien Nouveau, Martin Duru (Immune), and obviously Jean-Sébastien Nouveau, who wrote all the lyrics and music while conducting the whole ensemble. Les Marquises' surprising 2013 Pensée Magique, an experimental pop-oriented album inspired by the cinema of Werner Herzog, Peter Brook, and Jean Rouch. Now Jean-Sébastien is back with A Night Full Of Collapses which, as it's title suggests, is an eminently nocturnal record. Cinematic atmospheres are always present but the aforementioned references here give way to the work of David Lynch. The record is reminiscent of Badalamenti's compositions for Twin Peaks or the more recent dark-jazz of Dale Cooper Quartet and The Dictaphones as well as the first records by Bohren & Der Club of Gore. And while on the subject of disturbing and offbeat atmospheres, it is impossible not hear the ghosts of Talk Talk and especially Psychic TV floating here and there. But as always with Les Marquises, these are only first impressions. The influences and inspirations may seem clear at first sight but we soon find they make up a simple background whose sole purpose is to situate an action and provide context. Like the cinema which inspires him so much, Jean-Sébastien is cryptic in his approach and does not wish to clearly reveal his intentions to listeners. On the contrary, he aims to throw listeners off balance without ever attacking them and to lead them to lose themselves in his nocturnal, dreamlike, sometimes peaceful, sometimes unstable universe. A Night Full Of Collapses cultivates a mysterious aura conducive to wandering and reflection. Pensée Magique was both concise and yet abundant, even stifling for some. A Night Full Of Collapses is more grounded in some ways as it leaves aside bursts of pop in favor of a more jazzy framework which conveys it's author's benevolent attitude.