Angil + Hiddntracks

4 years have passed since the release of Angil's first LP "Teaser for: matter", critically acclaimed in France as one of the top records of 2004. Mickaël Mottet, the man behind the name, has not exactly been twiddling his thumbs: Angil and his live band the Hiddentracks have played many gigs in France, Spain, and Iceland (with the likes of Why?, Bright Eyes, the Kills, Brigitte Fontaine...). The LP (and an exclusive EP) were released in the UK by Megaphone (Karen Dalton, Michael Head...), while We Are Unique Records in France issued "Matter", another 4-track EP including self-remixed and re-composed songs. Angil also contributed to the John Venture.

January 13th, 2009 Angil + Hiddntracks release Ouliposaliva, their intelligent and charming album with a unique sound, further enhanced by the back-story and theme of the recording. The concept for Ouliposaliva was formed during an after-gig conversation between Mickaël Mottet and Hiddentracks' saxophonist Francis Bourganel: the idea of writing an entire album based on the sound of brass and woodwind instruments. "OK", Bourganel said, "let's do it. But don’t use the E key, as it's always been a tough one for alto saxophonists!" No sooner said than done: Mottet started writing E-less songs, never employing the E chord in the music, or the letter E in any of the lyrics.

Mickaël Mottet composed most of Ouliposaliva's songs on a 1904 piano salvaged from a neighbouring clothes shop which was closing down. Instead of having it tuned, Mottet took the weirdly resounding piano as it was, following the example of John Cage's prepared instruments, and adapted his compositions to its strange, Tim-Burtonesque sound.

Recorded at nearby art squat La Fabrique, Ouliposaliva features 11 musicians and fellow producer and Hiddentacks guitarist Gilles Deles. Guitars, however, are barely present on this record: following the predicate stated in "Teaser for: matter"'s opening song, "No more guitars," Angil gave percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass arrangements prominence in Ouliposaliva. He also emphasised the casual, hip hop feel that had dappled his earlier works, thus giving cross hints to both Why? and Sun Ra, Lisa Germano and Alice Coltrane, Soul Couhging and Tryggve Seim. The final touch to this ambitious project was added by French comics author Guillaume Long, who contributed the inspirational illustrations for "Ouliposaliva"'s booklet. Recommended!

Angil + Hiddntracks - Narrow Minds
Angil + Hiddntracks @ MySpace

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