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Warlus “Songs” (Guerssen) Originally self-released in extrememly limited numbers in ’77 in France. This was actually recorded in early ’75, but even that is misleading, in that singer/sonwriter/guitarist Richard Maubert, the primary architect of Warlus, was a 19 year old “Beatles-Hendrix-early Floyd fanatic” – that is, musically this is based pretty much totally on late ‘60s psych & doesn’t really have anything to do with mid-70s rock. Maubert & a second guitarist recorded the album on a couple of tape machines set up in an empty theater, overdubbing drums & a few other embellishments (radio static, electric harpsichord, piano), but keeping it pretty minimal, & always bathed in artificial delay & natural reverb from the threater. The songs are excellent post-Lennon/Barrett mode psychedelic pop sung in ultra charming, wistful, heavily accented English. The music & the soundworld converge to create a deep, mysterious yet familiar atmosphere normally accessed through dreams or drugs, & evoke the feeling of an insular, magical, private world in a way that a standard, professional recording can never or at least almost never achieve – though the songs & the musicianship are by no means substandard. This is maybe akin to what Bobb Trimble was doing a few years later, but more overtly psychedelic, rawer, & more isolated from later influence. This reissue reproduces the original Xerox & hand lettered/illustrated mimeographic sleave, with a nice liners insert. 180g. |
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