Evergreens (D Stream)
Plug and Pray
Released April 28, 2017
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m5mJZT0FjI9rLc9242Nd4njfClL_33rlw
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0Z0yVxUCnUil6lbshpMRdN?si=W8BzhvmuSxu6cZ4HyteD9g
About:
One could have bet that someday these two maestri were going to plot something together. They are two contemporary jazz musicians based in Paris, two inspired composers touring the planet since their twenties who have a lot of esteem for each other, and today they invent a revigorating music made of hallucinatory beats, an intensely creative music that has no name yet.
Track Listing:
1. Cortex Rewired 06:38
2. I Had a Dream About This Place 05:17
3. Sonate Pour Un Printemps Meilleur 04:36
4. Le Déja Vu 03:53
5. Singapore Rhapsody 08:56
6. The Pictures That Got Smaller 03:26
7. Slow Stepper 06:44
8. Le Moulin Du Ruisseau 03:19
9. Saint Denis Appetizer 03:25
10. The Zorro Bus 05:15
Personnel:
Benoît Delbecq: piano, e-drumming, keys, and tronics
Jozef Dumoulin: Fender Rhodes, keys, tronics
Recorded in 2015 in St Denis, Brussels and Studio de Meudon, by Julien Bassières
Live recording in Brussels by Yorgos Patsis, Nosey Elephant Studio VUB
Mixed and Mastered by Dré Pallemaerts
Produced by Plug and Pray for dStream
Artwork by Hélène Bouju
Photos by Julie Barrau
Review:
A tasteful pairing matches France’s award-winning avant-garde piano virtuoso Benoît Delbecq with Belgian keyboard master Jozef Dumoulin in the e-jazz duo of Plug and Pray. This powerful collaboration conjures up Delbecq’s expansive, tireless explorations on piano and keys, featuring electronics, e-drumming and inventive polyrhythms partnered with complementary Fender Rhodes and electronics by Dumoulin. Evergreens is a departure from Delbecq’s familiar prepared piano adventures. The album’s introductory “Cortex Rewired,” delves into mysterious soundscapes, with Delbecq’s ethereal piano ostinato fading to Rhodes and e-drumming, closing with the duo’s entwined piano and keys. Delbecq entices the listener with a spellbinding, dreamlike signature that he crafts masterfully, shaping ideas toward new improvisatory vistas. Delbecq and Dumoulin revisit the dream-inspired fusing electronics and piano with “The Pictures That Got Small.” With their sophisticated approach, Delbecq and Dumoulin’s electronics, piano and keyboard coloring translate into impressionistic imagery, making for meaningful music. “Saint Denis Appetizer” showcases Dumoulin’s electrifying Fender Rhodes, where dazzling lightning-quick keyboard lines take on a cinematic ambiance. And “The Zorro Bus,” is a graceful exit featuring a taste of Delbecq’s celebrated prepared piano with shimmering, distorted and glassy electronic textural hues. Fans of either musician won’t be disappointed with Evergreens. Its dreamy sonic musings are a worthy indulgence.
Kerilie McDowall (DownBeat)
