Etron Fou Leloublan - 1985 - Face Aux Elements Dechaines

Etron Fou Leloublan 

1985 

Face Aux Elements Dechaines

01. Lavés à la machine (4:19)

02. Tous le poussent (3:39)

03. Hors de son monde (4:00)

04. Paris 65 (4:04)

05. Sous les draps (3:52)

06. Comment choisir son infirmière (3:14)

07. Gifle Hubert (4:45)

08. Blanc (4:13)

09. Binet d'eau froide (0:18)

10. Plus rien ne nous retient dans ce pays (3:43)

11. Mon petit chorus (4:12)

Ferdinand Richard / bass, vocal

Jo Thirion / organ, vocal

Guigou Chenevier / drum, sax, vocal

Fred Frith / violin on "Paris 65" & "Blanc"

It's really interesting how all of the bands that started the RIO movement in 1978 managed to fade away by the middle of the '80s. Actually Henry Cow broke up as early as 1978 but I sort of consider Art Bears to be a natural continuation of that band since it was comprised of Chris Cutler, Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause. Unfortunately they still were the first RIO band to end their collaboration by 1981. Stormy Six broke up in 1983, Samla Mammas Manna or rather Lars Hollmer's new band incarnation, before switching to solo mode, von Zamla split up in 1984, while Daniel Denis slight loss of inspiration, notable on Heatwave, resulted in Univers Zero disbanding around 1987.

By August 1985, Etron Fou Leloublan were still going strong and, without a replacement in the saxophone department, recorded Face Aux Eléments Dechainés as a (power)trio. The trio that comprised of the long time collaborators Ferdinand Richard/Guigou Chenevier and Jo Thirion, who has already previously recorded two albums with the band, managed to uphold the general spirit of Etron Fou Leloublan even if the loss of a soloist does make its presences known on a few occasions. Luckily Fred Frith managed to add a few colorful touches to the album which are especially notable on Blanc, another composition that was previously featured on the band's live album En Public Aux États-Unis d'Amérique.

Overall this album is much better produced than anything that the band had release up to this point and becomes especially notable on the album's opening track Lavés À La Machine by the clear attention to detail. The slow progression of this opener might surprise most of band's followers and it's not until the vocal introduction that we actually beginning to realize that we're listening to an album by Etron Fou Leloublan! This is definitely not the case with the rest of this release and Tous Le Poussent quickly returns us to the right frame of mind, even though I cannot help but wonder how the band would have adapted the chamber music influences if they continued pushing in that direction for the remainder of Face Aux Eléments Dechainés.

Although, for some weird reason, this release has been my least played album from Etron Fou Leloublan, it definitely deserves my seal of approval for being a great conclusion to the legacy of an excellent RIO band. Etron Fou Leloublan broke up in 1986 and it's very unlikely that we'll get to hear of a reunion of this otherwise very obscure collective that doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page in French!