12″, OPN Production, 2008
www.opn.fr
I am going to sulk. This is released on 12″ LP and the review copy is a CDr. I guess I won’t be too grumpy as I can imagine how much this would cost to send out on vinyl, and it is strictly limited to 300 copies only after all.
This is an engaging release no less of European sounding cinematic music, that is as strange as it gets. Organic instrumentation takes form with the prominent use of violins alongside guitars, female vocals, piano and analogue delay, and adds to the overall raw feel to the release and it’s a welcome one at that. “Nine Barns” has a touch of ‘Olde Worlde’ to it, only slight in its indifference and bordering on the ritual with its peculiar structuring. Occasionally vocal samples are let in to the mix with some rather suspect subject matter. It is intriguing none the less.
Patience is definitely a virtue here, and sitting back to let a lot of this album sink in is the order of the day. It is when you do this that this release is at its most rewarding with numbers such as “Lonely”, which while bordering on the ridiculously odd, is still thought provoking in its simplicity giving you the necessary space to breath.
Fin De Siecle are most definitely not for everyone, and I am sure a lot of people would find this album frustrating at best. A lot of this surely has to be down to the fact that this is in vinyl format and structuring has to be different, so it’s most likely down to me listening to this on CD as there is an element of the tracks not being able to let go as track length restrictions surely come into play.
One for collectors out there, this is the final chapter in this acts five year tenure, and a fitting way to say ‘goodbye’.
[7.5/10]
— Tony Young