Le Pont Suspendu
by Ray Rumours
£10.00 (postage included)
stitch014 — CD, 2009
- Chaussures
- Meaningless Words
- Nightbus
- The Turtle
- Berlin to Poznan
- Au Bord de la Mer
- Snowman
- Puddles and Rain
- Ghosts
- October
- Winter Coat
- Looking For You
- Night Time on the Beach in Sydney
Previews available at last.fm. Ordering from America? Le Pont Suspendu is available from Olive Juice Distro.
Enchanting and diverse, the new album by Ray Rumours is a touching and personal capture of the songs and memories of the winter of 2007 and spring of 2008. Much of the album was recorded in one week at a friend's house in St Martin d'Ardeche, and takes its name from the suspension bridge that spans the Ardeche river.
Using only acoustic instruments, including a grand piano and a cardboard drum kit, Le Pont Suspendu is unpretentious and nostalgic in its sound, even for those not present for its recording. The songs are anecdotal, referring to past travels, seasons and sentiments, and through them we hear themes of loss: half-forgotten friends, disappearing memories, missed chances and bitter rejections.
Personalities from the recordings surround the songs: an underwater trumpeter, laughing backing singers, footsteps clattering down the stairs and the shredding of a newspaper mid-song. The climax comes with a new interpretation of an old song from the first Ray Rumours album, Looking For You. As the rich layers of sound fade away, the river flows on outside.
Reviews
Throughout, Murray's music is never anything less than disarmingly honest - a quality rare and appealing enough in itself.
Stockists
The Here Shop
108 Stokes Croft, Bristol
Spillers Records
36 The Hayes, Cardiff
Avalanche Records
63 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh
Monorail Music
12 Kings Court, Glasgow
Rough Trade East
Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London
Rough Trade West
130 Talbot Road, London
Sister Ray
34-35 Berwick Street, London
Soundclash Records
28 St Benedicts Street, Norwich
Action Records
46 Church Street, Preston
Ground Zero
12 Rue Crussol, Paris, France
Total Heaven
6 Rue Candale, Bordeaux, France
Norman Records
Online
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