Montreal based duo French duo Murmure self-released their new seven track EP Espace-temps last week. It sees their main focus turn toward the shoegazing and dream pop side of the project and confine their ambient, cinematic and post rock influences to its brief bookends and the interlude ‘Pleine Lune’. With an injection of pace and an undoubted pop centre, vocal and guitar hooks abound on each of the three substantive shoegaze originals especially the jangly rhythm and fuzzed out melodies of ‘La Reveil’ and the hard hitting urgency of ‘Les reflets brisés’. In between them and underlining the EP’s shoegaze focus, they pay homage to Dutch band The Nightblooms and cover their 1992 track ‘Slowly Rising’.
But undisputed standout of three originals for us is the drama and intensity of ‘La bataille’, a giant storm of a track that has it all. Rachel Mayer’s full undulating bass lines occupy every available bit of sonic space around an off beat driven rhythm, a none too substantial platform for her held and hazy vocals to emit the maximum dramatic effect. The shifting intensity of Keven Carrière’s guitar arrangements highlight both tone and technique as he gives his pedal board a fair workout in the delivery of both shimmering chords of reverb laden restraint and attacks of razor sharp distortion. It’s little wonder it’s been the opener to our New Shoegaze related playlist on Spotify for the last few days.
Whether Mayer and Carrière’s more upbeat approach and the move to elevate shoegaze above the other genres they trade is a riding of the wave or a definitive change is anyone’s guess. Their tendency to shift direction between EP’s has been clear to see from their beginnings and the difference between this and last years Whatever comes next though, for now we can rejoice in the fact Espace-Temps boasts three diverse and top notch tracks that more than value add to the genre.
Given the preoccupation with La bataille’, we’ve decided to highlight Espace-Temps’ centrepiece ‘Le reveil’. Listen to that below and grab a name your price digital copy of the EP here.
Le réveil
Murmure (FRA/CAN)
From the EP, ‘Espace-Temps’, Self Released.
Audio Stream
To hear more great new tracks in these genres, access and follow our New Post Punk Wave Shoegaze Post Rock Playlist on Spotify here, Besides Murmure, among the current batch of 30 it boasts new tracks from the likes of Faux Ferocious, Tempers, TOY, Pencey Sloe, The Hecks, Cathedral Bells, The KVB, Black Marble and DIIV. All tracks removed from this playlist end up here in its edition of the Tracks of 2019 Series.
