Rome * Nos Chants Perdus (cd 2010)
Rome continues in the direction which has been apparent since the earlier albums. “Nos Chants Perdus” is almost purely a “singer/songwriter” album, again more minimalistic in sound. Unfortunately for the first time, there are songs that do not really appeal to me, but there are also again very nice songs. Towards the end of this 43 minute album come a few unexpected sounds, such as the slightly ‘cabaretesk’ “La Rose et la Hache”. Reuter remains a gifted song-writer, but I am afraid he is drifting in a direction away from my musical taste. This album is already a bit too much popmusic. If this continues, I might not like a possible next album any longer. But of course musicians should not take much heed to that!
Links: Rome, Trisol
The two new tracks on this mcd are like the cover: more minimalistic. There are almost no samples anymore and the two melancholic songs are again more singer/songwriter-like than previous releases. There are some nice string arrangements which also ‘upgraded’ two old songs “Der Brandtaucher” and “Der Erscheinungen Flucht”. The songs are nice, but not as ‘gripping’ as on earlier releases (safe for the strings). Rome might evolve out of the spectre of my musical taste, but first let us see what the future brings.
Starting as the new hope for martial industrial and military pop, the new label advertises for Rome with comparison to Leonard Cohen. You do not have to fear for a bluesy folk sound (nothing bad said about Cohen of course), but indeed, Rome seems to continue to move towards more of a singer/songwriter approach. I was not immediately impressed by the previous release, which Jérôme himself calls a “single”, but I do happen to like to play it. “Flowers From Exile” has blown me away from the first play, just like the earlier releases. Rome has officially turned into a duo, but that does not change much about the sound. As a matter of fact, the sound reminds more of the earlier material than I expected from “To Die Among Strangers”. Like I said, the music is more “singer/songwriter”, mostly just guitar and singing and a bit of drumming, but there are still things going on on the background and Rome does keep a ‘martial’ edge in the use of samples. The songs are great, better than when I heard them at the performance in Leipzig. Just as before, Rome manages to work on my mood (the fact that the music is pretty damn melancholic is a reason that I do not play it all that often). There are nice melodies, good ideas and, like I said before, that ‘full’ sound with things on the background, the details that I have loved Rome for since the beginning. “Flowers From Exile” is the first full length on the German label Trisol, which is Rome’s way of reaching new audiences and they definately deserve that, since they have again proven that they are the better songwriters of our scene. Finally a masterpiece has come from our scene again.
So the new Rome is a mcd, a “teaser” for the new album? Because of the new label perhaps? Four tracks of which two are rerecorded old tracks. Three times poppy neofolk and an ambient/industrial sound collage. Not bad, but I prefered a new full-length. I guess I will have to wait.