State police L.P. (Précipité)
In the current of an old continent that carries the same intractable pollutants as always, extremist and fascist-leaning ideas, like an admission of powerlessness and a renunciation of any other form of sustainable and humane development, resistance crystallizes, just as it does in any physical precipitate. And it is within this very movement, at the heart of the grand narrative currently taking shape around seemingly innocuous acts, so-called news items drowned in a flood of misinformation, and reality TV, that composer, multi-instrumentalist, and sound engineer François Clos, supported by the duo Maxime Legrand and Stan Delanoy on drums and rhythms of all kinds, draws us in with this surprising album, State Police L.P., which is released on November 13 (Infradisque / Araki Records / MicroCultures / L’Autre Distribution).
A first single, “Driven,” was released, the result of experimentation on a track (“Conduit”) from the previous album, Naufrages, which paved the way for new compositions. The composer creates an almost hypnotic atmosphere, which is shattered by the blend of suddenly unleashed rhythms with brass instruments, whose material, almost atomic essence he captures, in a form of industrial dissonance. The LP’s centerpiece, the track questions everyone’s responsibility in a capitalist and mercantile society: “We have a kind of inertia where the system moves forward on its own, and the people who keep the system moving claim they have no choice but to keep it moving,” explains François Clos.
While the LP justifies its length with an opening track that’s over 14 minutes long, there are ultimately few tracks on this album that feel rushed, because the urgency is real: in the midst of a period of doubt, every word counts, just as, when it comes to the duty to remember, every name counts. Let’s hope these unclassifiable compositions will serve as arguments, even if they can’t change the world with a single magic formula. An album that resonates particularly strongly with current events in France this past fall. Food for thought...
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