Ceux du Dehors

by Univers Zero

Overview

The third full-length release from Univers Zero (disregarding the limited-release Crawling Wind EP, which Cuneiform re-released with bonus tracks in 2001), finds the group continuing to evolve. Group members may have realized that their previous release, the perversely brilliant Heresie, was a dead end of sorts, because on this new recording they ease up on the unremitting gloom and return to the more general and varied chamber music sound of their first release, 1313, except with more precision and skill. The tricky charts of percussionist Daniel Denis and new keyboardist Andy Kirk are executed with great panache. The labyrinthine compositions are typically filled with unexpected twists and turns, and angular repetitions of jagged riffs that accelerate, decelerate and mutate in passages of acute tension or quiet but ominous dread. Instrumentally, Michel Berckmans' bassoon and oboe, Andy Kirk's harmonium, and Patrick Hanappier's viola and violin can sometimes give the music a decidedly medieval quality, and pieces like Kirk's "Combat" are dark but also rhythmically vibrant. Too serious for rock and too tightly orchestrated for jazz, Ceux du Dehors sometimes suggests a darker and more complex version of the motorik minimalism of classical music contemporaries Philip Glass and Steve Reich, although it is doubtful that they were a conscious influence on the Univers Zero sound at the time of this recording. ~ Bill Tilland

Product Details

Release Date:	09/21/2018
Label:	Sub Rosa
UPC:	5411867334033

Tracks

1. Dense
2. La Corne Du Bois Des Pendus
3. Bonjour Chez Vous
4. Combat
5. La Musique d'Erich Zann
6. La T¿¿te Du Corbeau

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Univers Zero   Primary Artist
Michel Berckmans   Vocals,Voices,Bassoon,Horn (English),Oboe
Daniel Denis   Drums,Violin,Vocals,Voices,Cymbals,Harmonium,Percussion
Ilona Chale   Vocals,Voices
Patrick Hanappier   Viola,Violin,Vocals,Voices
Guy Segers   Bass,Vocals,Voices,Clarinet
Andy Kirk   Organ,Piano,Vocals,Voices,Harmonium,Mellotron,Glockenspiel
Thierry Zaboitzeff   Cello
Jean Debfeve   Hurdygurdy
Jean-Luc Aime   Violin

Technical Credits

Etienne Conod   Engineer,Mixing
Daniel Denis   Composer
Univers Zero   Mixing
Patrick Hanappier   Composer
Robert Vogel   Mixing,Engineer,Recording
Michel Berckmans   Composer
Chantal Smets   Cover Photo
Guy Segers   Composer
Ken Spagnolo   Photo Imaging
Andy Kirk   Composer
Jean Debfeve   Composer
Steve Feigenbaum   Photography,Photo Imaging,Reissue Coordination
Paula Millet   CD Graphics
Eric Faes   Engineer