Water, It Feels Like It’s Growing, Atsuko Chiba’s third album, redefines the notions of space, the cosmic, the hovering that have run through her work since her debut some ten years ago. “When we started writing the album, explains guitarist Kevin McDonald, we wanted to create a patient album. An album that takes its time. And in this to try something new: to create space in our music, so that the listener can fill in the gaps himself. »
The album opens with sunbath, its long drone of violins barely disturbed by the slow cadence of drummer Anthony Piazza and the lament of singer Karim Lakhdar. A rock mantra that gently directs us towards the psyche-funk-rock of So Much Forpunctuated in the middle by a horn section subtly evoking the hallucinatory funk of Funkadelic, era Maggot Brain (1971), it is suggested.
Kevin smiles: “Parliament-Funkadelic is one of our favorite bands,” he says. Maybe one day we’ll make a record completely in his style. His music has always had an influence, direct or indirect, on us, his way of mixing styles. Same for [le groupe kosmische allemand] CAN. In my opinion, they are two very similar groups, but which produce different music. David Palumbo, bassist, continues: “On this new album, we wanted to create a more krautrock sound, long “tones” that take their time, with simple bass lines, a drum pattern, and all the other instruments that revolve around and transform. CAN and Funkadelic are experts in this. »
Cosmic
the amazing Seeds, which opens the B side, is the perfect illustration of this sound research. The most cosmic of the album, with its haunting guitar, this groove reminiscent of that of The particular hotel by Gainsbourg (from the album Melody Nelson’s Story, 1971), the synth solo in the center which disappears behind the languorous violins. A little gem, this song, which will make the listener lose track of time.
When we get together, it’s like we have five versions of the same song
“Often, when I listen to music, I start imagining lots of things,” says the guitarist. My thoughts fly away and transport me. That’s what we were trying to recreate” without reproducing the hallucinated atmosphere of the first album, jinn (2013), a dense affair, with often abrupt rhythms, opening with the pastoral Retractor to conclude in a psyche-rock hurricane of almost 24 minutes entitled One Big Happy Family.
“We form more than one band, we are a family,” says David about his colleagues Kevin, Karim, Anthony, Eric Schafhauser (guitars, synths) and Matthew Cerantola, their “fifth Beatles”, appointed producer. Off stage or in the studio, “we are very close friends, we do everything together. I never doubted the affection we have for each other, but after recording this album, I am even more convinced that we are made to be together”.
An exquisite corpse
Because writing and recording the excellent Water, It Feels Like It’s Growing were made in the particular context of the pandemic. “We also think it’s our best album,” David replies. We had to overcome several obstacles to create it, and at the end of the process, the feeling is good. »
The writing process differed because, explains Kevin: “We couldn’t all be together in the same room anymore. We then sent our recordings to each other, each of the musicians working on them on his own, but no one played what he had composed. When we get together, it’s like having five versions of the same song. It transformed our way of conceiving the album: before, we showed up in the studio and we jammed until we had a song. While there, everyone started from a model, a skeleton of a song, and each dressed it in their own way, like an exquisite corpse. »
As for the themes of this third album, they are deliberately concealed in Karim’s texts: committed, worried about the social and environmental situation, but written “so that the listener can make his own interpretation”, underlines David.
“We are more emotional, says Kevin. Going through the pandemic together, we felt a lot, including social and political divisions. Getting together to finally play music was a positive experience, while the world around us carried rather a negative emotion. The album is a reflection on that. »