Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones
Métamanoir

Dale Cooper? But who was he? I've heard his name before. But where and when? Now I remember, he was the FBI agent who came to Twin Peaks to investigate the death of Laura Palmer, Dale Bartholomew Cooper played by Kyle MacLachlan. Twin Peaks! It had been years since those mysterious atmospheres of that town nestled in the ancient forests between the USA and Canada came to mind. And indeed (or rather, to hear it well), the mood of the album by this strange French ensemble seems very close to those dark and often poisonous sensations that the TV series by Master Lynch left us with in the early '90s.

The Dijon quartet, marking their fateful second attempt after "Parole De Navarre" from 2006, delivers nine tracks that unfold in a dark and dreamy environment, bringing the listener to a state of complete inner peace, floating between cinematic visions in a finely crafted dark-jazz-ambient. The sound layers, supported by slow, brushed drumming and guitar delays worthy of the best Bark Psychosis, roam in the nothingness and emptiness of our mind. At times, the saxophone emanates a feeling of solitude that takes you to the seaside, in the tranquility of low tide as the sun is obscured by a total eclipse. Or, if you prefer, you are transported to the damp undergrowth to walk among gigantic Douglas firs, happily having forgotten to bring along D'Annunzio’s poems.

Produced by the independent German label Denovali Records, the album hypnotizes us with delicate lullabies ("La Terrible Palais"), slow psychedelic passages ("Elle Agréable Rendez-Vous De Chasse"), and expansive guitars (the masterpiece track "Eux Exquis Acrostole"). The slow flow of the pieces brings forth Bark Psychosis, the later serious Talk Talk, Portishead's trip-hop ("Le Implacable gentilhommiere"), and Eno's ambient.

Music for ears well-trained in silence and waiting, music that will love you and be loved, that will cling to your body, touching the most sensitive chords of your soul, the most mysterious and hidden ones. It will gently whisper a few words that will drag you where only you want. Alone, you and her.