Recommended: Le Migou – “California Love”

This is one for the fans of Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer period.  The melodies of California Love are as welcoming and gorgeous as moonlight, and the pace of each piece is modeled after gently rocking waves on the sea.  The sextet Le Migou lets the strings shape the songs while the woodwinds provide the personality, but all of it aims to settle right into that particular kind of twilight Americana tranquility.

Yes, the sextet lights a fire under a few of the tracks.  The punchy “Tom Pouce” has saxophone leading out with some wild swings, but everyone gets in their shots.  And there’s some Ennio Morricone action with the hopping “Pistolero” and “Nola” slides into a pleasant blues.  And then there’s the way tight lines of guitar melody loop back upon themselves on “Pour faire la sieste” while trumpet soars peacefully above the fray while offering up complementary melodic fragments, for the sake of imagery as much as anything.  But all of that differentiation falls right in line with a Frisell Americana mold.  But more important than influence is the fact that all of California Love is seriously arresting and often quite beautiful.

Your album personnel:  Nicolas Frache (guitar), Pierre Gibbe (bass), Aëla Gouvernec (cello), Quentin Andrélouis (violin), Thibaut Fontana (tenor sax) and Emmanuelle Legros (trumpet).

Released on Grolektif Productions.

Listen to more of the album on the label’s Bandcamp page.

Available at:  Bandcamp