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Medication Park
/ To Russia In White / Life As Interference / Plain / Rannveig
/ Blue Glass Highway / Barunka Left / Iceland / Angel Of Night
/ Dream No. 9 This Week: Pdlv Piano
ALL SAINTS RECORDS/RYKODISC
HNCD1486
Recorded at Vacavelli Studio and Zafyro
Studio
Produced by Juan Feliu
RELEASED> September 12th 2005
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 MEDICATION
PARK, a leisurely stroll through chilled out pop
territory - finds Vacabou blending relaxed vocal melodies
to a bossanova beat and a wild west soundscape in something
akin to Francoise Hardy fronting a more relaxed Alabama 3.
It's in vocalist Pascale Saravelli that the songs here come
alive, her breathy vocals injecting that certain European
charm - sensual and sublime, yet at the same time with a detachment
and ice coolness that lends them an air of mystery and otherworldliness.
Like an updated version of Portishead, TO RUSSIA IN
WHITE, fast forwards the trip-hop formula ten years
and recreates that same sense of wonder in a wash of delicate
beats and gentle melodicism while LIFE AS INTERFERENCE
floats along on ambient sound waves and post-rock electronica.
It's sometimes easy to mistake terms like gentle, ambient
and chilled for dull, lifeless and bland - as is often the
case when bands seem too preoccupied with shiny production
techniques, forgetting that you also need a healthy dose of
heart and soul in there somewhere. Vacabou seem well aware
of this though, with all their smoothness and slick production
counterbalanced with enough interesting twists, turns and
humanity.
RANNVEIG sounds like the Boards Of Canada
being reinterpreted by James Lavelle, lush orchestral passages
and low key electronica bleeding into one shimmering whole,
BLUE GLASS HIGHWAY on the other hand is almost
an acoustic ballad. Showing a level of eclecticism that sets
them apart, BARUNKA LEFT is another side-step
into fresh territory - mixing warm guitar lines with skeletal
beats and pure pop melodies, Vacabou manage to sound like
a missing link between Air, Ennio Morricone and The Beatles.
Pascalle Saravelli reaches new vocal heights on ICELAND,
letting her voice soar with an effortless sounding richness
that evokes singers like Bjork or Emiliana Torrinni whilst
still maintaining a unique edge and vision.
VACABOU is an album that doesn't immediately
grab the attention, it's instead a more steady and engaging
affair - the songs taking their time to work their magic.
It's the little details and the subtle touches that inform
things here, songs like MEDICATION PARK and RANNVEIG
taking two or three listens before really taking hold. VACABOU
is a record though, that it's worth investing time
into - like a subtler version of Royskopp or an updated Portishead.
This is a debut with a subtle charm and low-key magic that's
infectious.
On 12th September, the Franco-Spanish duo Vacabou release
their self-titled debut album through All Saints Records.
With the effortless European cool of Air or Royksopp, Vacabou
is the perfect soundtrack to a hot, lazy summer.
Writer Juan Feliu met French chanteuse Pascale Saravelli in
2000, and realised he had finally met the voice for his music.
The result of their
collaboration is an intoxicating album of sublime electronic
talent both musically and lyrically. From the instant classic
MEDICATION PARK through the darker waters of BLUE GLASS HIGHWAY
- with it's lyrical nod to Bowie's I'm Always Crashing In
The Same Car - through to the epic ANGEL OF NIGHT and beautiful,
searching RANNVEIG, Vacabou is an album that lets you enjoy
the chilled, refreshing air that it breathes into the room.
Vacabou have been compared with Bjork and Portishead but as
Juan says, their influences are much more wide ranging. "I'm
influenced by artists whose music can't be categorised - people
like Leonard Cohen and David Bowie - that's what we wanted
to achieve with this album."
Vacabou is at first listen a departure for All Saints Records,
home to Brian Eno, Harold Budd and Jon Hassell. But as Dominic
Norman-Taylor, MD of All Saints Records, says: "While
this album is much more song-based than most of our catalogue,
it has a sonic inventiveness and attention to detail that
we found utterly compelling".
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