Loened Fall/Gouez ! (À l'état sauvage)/An Naer Produksion/2003
This recording has been selected as the 2003 All Things Breton Album of the Year!
Personnel:
- Ronan Guéblez - Vocals
- Marthe Vassallo - Vocals
- Hervé Bertho - Violin
- Marc Thouénon - Guitar & Bouzouki
- Sabine Le Coadou - Bombard
Invités:
- Nolùen Le Buhé - Vocals
- Marcel Guilloux - Vocals
- Dominique Mahé - biniou
In Breton, Loened Fall means “bad beasts”. While calling someone a ‘Loened Fall’ is most often a joke or even an affectionate expression, in this case it does reflect the raw energy of the band and this live recording. Formed in 1996 around guitarist Marc Thouénon with singers Marthe Vassallo and Ronan Guéblez, the band pairs ultra-traditional kan ha diskan call-and-response singing, which is typically unaccompanied, with a trio of instrumentalists. Gouez ! (À l'état sauvage) is the group's second album and delivers on this novel formula with a more ferocious and charged performance than their first. The title, meaning roughly "wild, in a savage state”, while a play on the name of the band, describes the live recording approach as much as the sound. The excited shrieks of the crowd are a vital part of this recording.
Vassallo and Guéblez anchor the vocals throughout, joined by guest singers Noluen Le Buhé and Vassalo’s mentor Marcel Guilloux, whose presence lends the record a sense of continuity with older generations of singers. Le Buhé is almost an extra member of the band and frequently performs with them. The instrumental side is once again handled by Marc Thouénon on bouzouki and guitar, Hervé Bertho on fiddle, Sabine Le Coadou on bombard and are here fortified by well-respected piper Dominique Mahé on biniou. Their arrangements generally follow the band’s unique formula: fiddle and guitar/bouzouki accompany the singers through the vocal sections, then the bombarde takes over the lead for instrumental passages with the rest of the group shifting to support it in turn. Le Coadu is perhaps the unsung hero of this recording, as her bombard parts are exquisitely energetic, powerful, focused, and precise. While the alternation between voice-led and bombard-led sections makes obvious sense when listening to Loened Fall, in fact this approach is something that they invented, as previously the two Fest Noz traditions were never intermingled within one act. Here it works perfectly to shift musical gears and the crowd frequently responds with audible approval to the changes in feel and energy.
The thirteen tracks include a variety of traditional Fest Noz dance types - gavotte, Pourlet, polka plinn, and dañs fisel. The first track, Gavotenn Mod Pourlet - Plac'hig St Karadeg, is somewhat emblematic of the album as a whole. It begins with fiddle and guitar playing a introductory rhythmic figure, onto which the vocalists soon appear and lay down their call-and-response. The bombard, backed by the biniou, then takes over with incredible intensity, and the resulting blistering instrumental section pumps up the excitement until delivering the tune back to the singers.
Two slower, vocals-oriented pieces offer a break from the up-tempo program. The gwerz Marivonig, slow and melancholy, offers a delicate contrast and shows the group's range extends past pure dance material, featuring the finely expressive voice of guest Marcel Guilloux paired with Ronan Guéblez. Similarly, on Pa Oen Du-Hont 'kostez Ar Mor (Son), guest Nolùen Le Buhé duets with Marthe Vassallo in her more earthy tonality.
While Gouez ! makes no attempt to soften or modernize the tradition for outside ears, it is actually a highly approachable recording. The backing instrumentation enriches the vocal sections, while the vocal sections allow a pleasant break from the unrelenting intensity of the powerful bombard.
Like most products from An Naer Produksion, the packaging is ultra-deluxe, with a taller than normal digipack-style case with an integrated booklet loaded with beautiful photos and lyrics to the songs, which also feature added translation into French for the many who do not read Breton.
So what we have is an innovative sound, exciting and balanced, that presents extremely well-done Breton sounds in an accessible package, brought to you in an absolutely gorgeous and fun physical package. This excellent recording might be a great choice for those that would like to dip their toes further into the meat of Breton traditional sounds, but have been a bit hesitant at the prospect of being driven out of the room by warbling unaccompanied voices or piercing woodwinds.
- Fañch
