Castle 2024
3’33 Treasure Hunt
Looking for pearls in his heart and soul, Languedoc composer locates a cerebral sort of rapture.
A melody’s length, or its brevity, matters – otherwise, there would be no “Paranoid” whose slapdash provenance is seemingly far removed from Jean-Pierre Llabador’s pedantically crafted oeuvre. This doesn’t mean the French musician’s averse to playing mind games with his listener and entertaining himself by setting creative challenges to overcome and be amused by the results, as the eight pieces gathered here prove in style. Inspired, perhaps, by the 33⅓ speed of vinyl platters, the Montpellier denizen decided to write a few cuts each of which has the titular duration and not only succeeded in doing so but also brought impressive variety to the table by wrapping every number into a different genre’s garb.
If five decades ago Jean-Pierre used to take his sweet time to develop an idea, it’s the tune’s sweetness and logic that define its compact form and its impact now, especially when it’s a proper song, such as soulful opener “Roses In Rhodes” which sees Tania Margarit emote over David Heraulaz’s twangy licks her clavinet passages spice up, or the sultry “Betty On Franklin Avenue” which features Elea Schuhmann in a feistily bluesy mood. Yet while instrumental “Bowlywood” goes for a breezy, albeit insistent, fusion flow, rather typical for this artist, and “The Link” – another light painting sans paroles – reveals a rougher, funk-feathered edge, “Long Beach” offers sublime balladry but finds the composer most notably excuse himself from the deliciously old-timey arrangement, leaving the sentiment to Ms. Margarit’s piano and the groove provided by his namesake Barredo’s bass and Philippe Arnaud’s drums.
Following the same formula, “Big Deal” is handed to its co-writer Bernard Margarit to weave an electroacoustic lace around before “Ghazaouet City” references Llabador’s birthplace via Maghreb vibrancy his ensemble whip up with a lot of gusto, so there’s no need for Jean-Pierre to be present as a performer at all, even though one will have no difficulty imagining him solely unfold the elegiac six-string magic that Pascal Corriu and Gerard Pansanel apply to “Blast” which brings this charming experiment to a close. The behind-the-scenes role may not feel natural to many an artist, but Jean-Pierre Llabador inhabited the mastermind position with rare elegance.
****4/5
