Girouette (GRCL07) - deluxe digipack - 2010
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Feverishly rising from tense guitar chords, General Bye Bye
start to unfold their « Alphabet »
as a sexy and dreamlike duet to a bouncy frame of fun indie pop, before
deconstructing the architecture of the track by crafting by hand a
decadent ballet of complex arpeggi which will undoubtedly be
reminiscent of the once flamboyant Blonde Redhead. This introduction
subtely defines the gist of this protean album, that remains
nonetheless totally coherent all the way through. « When it's
gonna rain? » reinvents gimmicky pop with an
elegance of diluvian arrangements, before the hit « Maniac Mansion
» unveils its best looks : playful synth hooks, deliciously
volatile guitars, complimentary voices and syncopated rhythms.
« I take a bus to take a train, I take a train to take a plane ». These are the heady lyrics which lay the first stones of one of the most introspective tracks here, « The never-ending trip », a digression about travelling, which raises its most striking contradictions : the joy of departure versus homesickness. The soft hints of kantele dress up the layers of poweful moog with very relative self-restraint; just after, « Hautes Solitudes », its twin track, brings out a very Gainsbourg sound with its muffled drums, not to far from what an alternate take on the « Virgin Suicides » original soundtrack could have been like. « Don't shoot the rabbit » brings the dark and punchier side of the band with an introduction in a trompe-l'oeil fashion with its gently dissonant guitars, before the tracks dramatically gains height with the martial invectives of Jana, on an apocalyptic final chorus akin to the best of Sonic Youth's « Nurse ». « Time is on my side » is more suggestive with once more unstoppable and complex melodies resting on simple boombox beats. The vicious and unbridled « Facelift » alternates nervous guitars and more atmospheric passages to bring forward the masterpiece of the LP, the moody « Girouette » itself. A seven-minutes track with uninhibited chords and longing for great spaces, this baroque piece tainted with contagiously melancholic piano of a rare beauty also comments on impressions of travelling with a dream-like mystery. Not quite out of breath yet, the LP finds a new path with the bouncy « French Cancan » laden with edgy guitar hooks and drums with spacey arrangements that are very « 2001 A Space Odyssey ». Then, like a photobooth shot amplifying each detail of a tired face after multiple adventures, the dreamy « Self-portrait » draws lines that sound jazzy to eventually cast a spell on the listener with comforting arpeggi and wistful vocals which leaves the door open for future adventures, that the band will soon come to tell us about.  |