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The pianist and composer Melaine Dalibert returns to the algorithmic compositions he is so fond of for Night Blossoms, after having momentarily abandoned them on a previous record, more tinged with pop and quasi-romantic harmonies. With this album, just as successful, he demonstrates, if there was any doubt, that he is equally gifted in each of the two stylistic facets of his art.
How can pieces based on such abstract and rigorous constructions evoke so much emotion when listened to? Melaine Dalibert 's music projects the listener into a universe where the dull everyday time no longer applies. There is no measure, no beginning and no end: for those who are willing to be taken in, Night Blossoms The music of Melaine Dalibert makes the listener lose all reference points of the commensurable.
From the very first seconds of "A rebours", the ear rests on a cottony bed of clouds, made almost tactile by the delicate sounds of the piano, which slowly spins out a long melody, patiently constructed in reverse, in stages. It begins its journey from the last note, which it repeats and fleshes out each time with new clusters of sounds that precede it, convolutions and whirlpools in which one lets oneself get lost, with the sole compass of a path that one knows one can turn back on.
The continuously swirling fog of notes on 'Windmill' evokes the hypnosis that can result from observing the grains of an hourglass slowly pouring out in a single movement, but whose trajectories of fall are always different. The record soon plunges us into an unspeakable melancholy, tinged with a deep nostalgia.
Let us give here the rules of the game for one of the pieces, "Eolian Scape", which the composer has given us: the process is the construction of a natural C minor scale(C D Eb F G Lab B C) which progresses from third to third* from the fundamental*, contained in a single octave*, over a binary and ternary* polyrhythm which becomes more and more complex as new notes are added, through the eight sequences which open up with each addition: C - Eb - G - Bb - D - F - Lab - C. All this is very regulated, very mathematical and very controlled, but surprisingly far from the effect felt when hearing it: that of a liberation of the senses and perception, coupled with an intense meditative dive. How can reason and the will to rationalise be defeated in this way by musical alchemy, despite the rigorous system on which everything is based? The answer lies largely in Mélaine Dalibert's profound and inspired interpretation, both concentrated and natural.
In this journey, there is still space to explore, which is made possible by the reverberation and echo effects delicately added by David Sylvian on "Yin" (4) and "Yang" (6). The ex-singer of the band Japan, collaborator of Ryuchi Sakamoto, Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay or Fennesz, elaborates a subtle electronic veil resonating on the already naturally reverberated acoustic of the piano, which benefits from a superb sound recording throughout the record. In between, 'Sister' (5) is like a minimalist jig that spins and dances with its haunting six-beat rhythm. The record ends as if by surprise. It leaves us alone with the scent of night flowers...
Guillaume Kosmicki
