Review: Élg – Vu Du Dôme (Editions Gravats, Apr 6)

Élg’s Vu Du Dôme is an truly unique album. Taking a very different direction from Laurent Gérard’s already diverse body of work, Vu Du Dôme is sculpted from heavily manipulated acoustic sounds that pile on top of each other in bright, colorful collages. Gérard’s full, Chanson-esque vocals and lyrics are also a significant element, with the bizarre electronics shaping themselves into something more organized and rhythmic every time he sings. From what I understand, the lyrics are part intelligible French and part nonsense, exploring both denotative and more syllabic, sound-focused approaches to poetry. As you can probably tell, this is an ambitious record, and covers a ton of ground in its 30 short minutes, but feels totally complete and contained. Gérard forges the most successful balance between abstractness and pure, joyful fun, making Vu Du Dôme a record that I imagine everyone can appreciate.

Vu Du Dôme is available on streaming services, and the physical version can be purchased here.