La Double Absence

They Say...

Review by François Couture, All Music Guide

Thilges, once known as Thilges 3, was also once known as an experimental sound collective with an inclination toward sound installation and performance art. Since the early 2000s, the duo formed by Gammon and Nik Hummer has been flirting with pop. La Double Absence is the culmination of their efforts to combine pop appeal, experimental edge, and (for this particular project) Arab music. Presented as "Western experimental music meets Oriental art music," La Double Absence is actually more Oriental than Western in sound, and more electro-pop than experimental in style. All songs have been co-written by Thilges and oud player Asim Al-Chalabi, plus other contributors on some tracks. The album revolves around Al-Chalabi's graceful oud and Zohreh Jooya's entrancing vocals. Thilges' electronics frame these two main voices, alternately enhancing and polluting them. Violist Eyvind Kang, quarter-tone trumpeter Franz Hautzinger, and percussionist Peter Rosmanith. The "experimental" aspect of the album resides in the electronic textures and the overall fusion attempt, but the result is actually quite accessible, even rather commercial in a World Fusion way. "Izdiucz," "Mehraban Bash" and "Völkische" are particularly convincing, pulling together everyone in a united effort to achieve a new sound. Tucked at the end of the album, "Hijaz on D" is a less representative highlight: an instrumental jam featuring an ominous, almost zeuhl-like bass, and Al-Chalabi's wizardry. The production is occasionally cold, which tends to rob Jooya's voice of its natural warmth, and the music tends to vanish as soon as the CD is over, but otherwise, La Double Absence makes a recommendable album.