07 Mar 09
Malajube
(Wiki) | (Last.FM) | (Myspace)
Labyrinthes
[February 10, 2009] | [Dare to Care Records]
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7.2/10
Sigur Rós has opened the gates up for bands all across the world to try breaking into the American music scene. Sigur Ros, hailing from one of the most artistic countries of the world, flooded over the language barriers of Americans. Singing in Icelandic and gibberish (coined as hopelandic), they have shown that it is possible for language to be secondary to beautiful music. Unfortunately, it’s a common reality that language does play a large part in our taste for part. Some of the best movies ever made have been foreign films, but it’s preferable to watch a simple flick before giving a foreign film a chance. Music is similar, and Laybrinthes, the third album from Canadian band Malajube, can be an intimidating listen as it is entirely French. However, the album’s melodic qualities create an appealing nature-driven listen, and when your lyrical woes get the best of you – just remember, Google translator is always there for you.
The album gets its initial beauty from its shoe gaze and progressive combination that bring out the album’s unique and mystifying sound. The lyrics get increasingly more beautiful from track to track. Julien Mineau, the lead guitarist and vocalist of the band, belts out some of my favorite lyrics of the year so far on the track “Casablanca” which translate to “In the mirage, you remain wise, And your face, beautiful in the clouds”. Being a sucker for romance and love, the lyrics get me here because of the matchless way that Mineau describes his feelings of love. The film “Casablanca” is a landmark film in motion picture history and if you’ve seen it you’d know of a place where love can magically happen and the lyrics of this song identify just that.
Much of the album revolves around a theme of nature, and a large portion of the lyrics involve the sun and the moon. In this regard, the songs can be seen as a peaceful lullaby with an aesthetic beauty to them. The song “Ursuline” starts the record off with a terrific shoe gaze number that packs noise oriented guitar riffs and high pitched vocals similar to a band such as Mew. The guitar work on the album seemingly borrows a lot of old school psychedelic riffs and includes solos happening all at once. The album however, though enjoyable, is unable to create a strong impact on a listener. Whether it lacks a hard-rock anthem or drags one too many ballads too long, Labyrinthes lacks a general substance that keeps it from being great.
As a fan of art in the media, I am happy to listen and watch new and creative material from artists all over the globe. Labyrinthes shows us how good an album can be while still surmounting a language barrier. And though it can be, at times, difficult to look past language barriers, often it’s in doing so that we find our tastes uniquely enriched. Labyrinthes may fall short of an Agaetis Byrjun, but is a rewarding, worthwhile listen nonetheless.
-Eric
