The concept of experimental music has a vast range of interpretation. If Beyoncé incorporated a glockenspiel people would go nuts. If a twenty-year-old performed an eight-hour set of Gregorian Chants to a Theremin it’d probably be met with confusion. These, and virtually anywhere in between is veiled in the concept of “experimentation” and we just sort of accept that.
Landing confidently in the wide range of said interpretation is Belgium’s Monolithe Noir. Joining forces with Tunisian singer Jawhar and rising violinist Mirabelle Gilis the progressive electronic vision of Noir shifts with the third single from their forthcoming album Rin.
“Barra Bouge” departs the drifting electro-beats of “Finvus” and “Balafenn” and stands confidently in the realm of artistic. Reaching into the arthouse, five-minute track exhibits an apologetic venture into the obscure. Experimental electronic foundation lays out a landscape in which “Barra Bouge” grows into an underground improvisational tempest. The mantra setting pace and recurrences within “Barra Bouge” build a palatable tension. Repetitious chant and tonality driven by a snare march lend way a major energy shift that reverberates into the finish which comes crashing in on itself for the final act. As Monolithe Noir put it, “the lyrics of ‘Barra Bouge’ speak directly to the protagonist of its verses. It seeks to travel along with them, to build stairs and caves in the wilderness, to raise animals and make love in the night. All its verses begin with the melancholy tinge of I would have liked… But reality, in all its gloom, is always knocking at our door, despite how much we want to tell it to go away.”
Hear “Barra Bouge” now and look for Monolithe Noir’s new album Rin 26th August on Capitane Records.