CD, SillonS, 2005
www.sillons.org
Anotret is definitely the most accessible artist from the Sillons label, as there is actual melody along with glitch/electronica sounds to get lost in. There are some unexpected sounds here, from a woman screaming to crunchy white noise, hiding behind beautiful, lush, keyboards.
However this is an album that confirms my feelings on vocals in electronica. I am mostly against vocals, as electronica has so much more going on that I think vocals are a distraction that quite often don’t work. The vocals only work well on the track “Stella Maris” which is sang in German and the language seems to suit the music for some strange reason. All the other tracks are sang in French and it doesn’t seem as sinister and to me it sounds quite sleepy and slow (no offence to the French!).
The opening track “Vaciller” has some wonderful glitch sounds, but the vocals are a distraction, “Ces Contrees” follows in the same fashion, but is succeeded by the simply stunning “La Ultima Palabra” – easily the best track on this release. “L’absence” is possibly the most upbeat track, and goes off into a more electro sound, and is not bad for this. Also very interesting samples used. It all ends with “Stella Maris” as previously mentioned.
In all this isn’t bad at all, and the stand out tracks are definitely “La Ultima Palabra” and “Stella Maris” – worth investigating for those two tracks alone. Anotret shows a lot of promise.
[7/10]
— Kate Turgoose