Emmanuelle Parrenin - Maison Rouse

* EMMANUELLE PARRENIN “Maison Rose”: We begin by saying that this is an album unlike any other. A bold
statement, perhaps. Yet look in the “Scented Gardens of the Mind” book and you will see this description: “a revelation of
a folk album, with songs of incredible beauty and innovative arrangements. It features traditional instruments you’ve
hardly ever heard before and touches of the avant-garde. Play this album directly after that of another randomly chosen
female folk album, and you will notice the difference! This is one of the best!

* Parrenin had been part of a traditional “antique fol movement in France in the late 1960’s (she was in many ways a
French equivalent to Sandy Denny or Mandy Morton); indeed, she had recorded eight albums with musicians from this
scene before “Mais Rose”—her best, and last album, recorded in 1and released the following year.

* The record seems to alternate between a cosmic take on an ancient Breton sound, and delicate, multi-tracked ballads
ranging from sounds that would not be out of place on an Ash Ra Tempel album to elements of traditional French folk
music (including home-made instruments) that are just as exotic.

* Certainly, the avant-garde edge lurking beneath the simple folkiness of “Maison Rose” puts in mind the explorations
Brigitte Fontaine with her sometime musical voyager Areski; there are also suggestions of the pastoral caranavserai
aesthetic of Vashti Bunyan, as well as the multi-track sensuality of Linda Perhacs (to name two much-touted singers who
seem to have a similar ability to enchant). But Parrenin has her own style, her music has its own deeply ethereal quality,
and the album itself has it's own magic spell to cast that renders comparison with other albums unimportant in the end.

TRACKLIST:

1. Ce Matin A Frémontel... 2. Plume Blanche, Plume Noire 3. Liturgie 4. Thibault Et L’ Arbre D’Or 5.
Ritournelle 6. L’ Echarpe De Soie 7. Topaze 8. Belle Virginie 9. Ballade Avec Neptune 10. Maison Rose 11. Après
L’Ondée 12. Le Rêve Bonus Track: 13. Voyage Migrateur

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