DESCRIPTION :

Emma NEWELL (Government) and V.-E. BOINEM (Bleeds) invite you to discover these twelve watercolors, sketches made in the dark, in a melancolic state of mind and specifically dedicated to someone they had in mind when they were composing – friends, acquaintances or lovers. This long lost and « sentimental » record was made throughout the months of recording and mixing of Government's records « Shitshitshit » (2017) and « Prepare Thyself... » (2022) but only assembled recently, since both Newell & Boinem felt it as too intimate to be revealed.

As on Government's records, collage is used to desorientate the listener and appear as a contradictory speech while the sounds are trying to provide a seamless flow of ideas, emphasizing simple and direct melodies and emotions. It's a very special and intimate set for its two creators, who reveal themselves here outside of any irony or witticisms.

What permeates here is a sense of loss, desorientation, an overall melancoly and loneliness along exotic samples, vinyl static, synthesizers drenched in reverb, echoes from distant oneiric worlds. These feelings are reinforced by the spirit of collage, their mutual passion for eccentric arrangements (horns popping here and there), the sudden changes of structures inside tracks like « If There is a Heart » (an electro-pop song in disguise with its « oriental » coda), the dark-jazz mini-suite « Debris Scattered in an Ashtray Universe » (overtaken by harp arpeggios and drum'n'bass breaks), the trip-hop finale « The Fuck » turning into a feverish glitch resolution, while other tracks are as close as possible to normal songs or long crescendos : Anna Karina's voice from « Alphaville on « Triumph (at the end) », the camera-noise from Michael Snow « La Région Centrale » on « Let's Face, Not », as well as a tribute to these late and beloved figures.



CREDITS :

Composed, produced and mixed by Emma NEWELL and Victor-Emmanuel BOINEM* aka The Blacklake in various occasions and places between 2013 and 2018, mainly in Before Windmill, Awans, Emma's appartment in West Brompton and Quai Churchill, Liège.

*except track 3 (Boinem, Newell, B. Lavilliers, J.P."Hector" Drand)
and track 12 (Boinem, Newell, D. Clavaizolle, J.M. Bergheaud)

Front picture by Fanny Pluymers. Layout by Bleeds.



PERSONNEL :

Emma NEWELL : keyboards, TR-707 programming, mellotron on 2,5, 6, 8 & 10, samples, electronic percussion, Yamaha DX-7, Roland SH-101 and ARP Odyssey on 3, 11, 12.

Victor-Emmanuel BOINEM : vibraphone on 2, 6, 8, rhodes on 6, Korg MS-20, Prophet-5, Roland Jupiter-8, acoustic percussion, samples, vinyl crackles, final editing, mix and mastering.

Sue CYDE : flute on 2, 5 & 11, piano on 12.