Lune très belle - Ovale
Boiled Records
Released May 19th, 2023
Ovale is the latest release from Lune très belle, the pseudonym of “Montreal-based composer, singer and writer Frédérique Roy” (1). Frequently self described as ‘nü fusion’, the record presents a full-length offering of strikingly textural, jazz-adjacent, art-pop songwriting.
The record begins with ‘La mite’, a warm piano-based track highlighting a number of the sonic elements which will be employed over the course of Ovale’s runtime. Namely, sparse and gentle instrumental performances shoring up the misty French-language vocals of Roy and her harmonist. It’s immediately apparent that there is an immense freedom in the way Roy writes and sings - a sensibility unshackled by the typical restraints of given musical tropes. At the head of ‘Refrain skylark’, we hear gentle flutes, a synth drone, some studio ambience - all dipping in and out of perception - tempo-less and vague in structure. This kind of composition provokes so many curiosities. Was it intentional? Was it meticulously written or spontaneously captured? Is it… musical? In any case, one can’t help but pick up on a kind of creative purity, through which the process of listening becomes a meditation to feel the song and get into flow with its essence. A track like ‘Maison’ provides more opportunity for syncing up in this way thanks to its more repetitive chordal movement. Yet this is still far from anything that could be called ‘predictable’ - instead I would say that the rhythm here is steady in the way that breathing is - a recurrent oscillation between projection and silence, but still dynamic and ever changing. In this way, Ovale feels deliciously organic and corporeal. There is something specifically human about it, bearing a naturalistic quality I’ve witnessed in certain other art mediums, but rarely lyric-based music.
It seems fair to say that Roy is interested in ‘raw sound’ as a method of sonic delivery, rather than always having conventional expectations of what role an instrument ought to play in the greater context of a song. It is sometimes a challenge to even name all of the instruments one is hearing within each composition on Ovale. Per my own best guessing, ‘Dogue’ seems to feature a harpsichord-ish synth, piano, chimes, a triangle, more synth-ish hisses and hums, an electric guitar and a tasteful modicum of vibraslap - yet this is far from everything at play, and the imperceptibility of exactness here only aids in crafting the uniquely immersive character of the album. Furthermore, it's distinct how these instrumental elements maintain their distance from each other, as if never truly touching within the mix - one coming into view only as the other exits, such that the arrangements never overpower or undermine the omnipresent wind-like vocals. This is poignant on an instrumental like ‘Siffleux’ - a short and bouncy track featuring various spring-like pings, snare-sizzles and a child-like flute melody. Despite countless different kinds of sounds being recognizable here, there is never a moment when the song feels cluttered or overwhelming. Everything has its place, the result being a kind of controlled cacophony.
These examples hopefully illustrate the multitude of different impressionistic avenues on Ovale, as well as how textually expressive the project is from start to finish. The holistic listening experience is like that of traversing an art gallery, each track carefully considered and taken as one part of a whole, like pieces in an exhibition. Appropriately, the record feels inimitable and sophisticated, well at home in a space housing delicate and significant works of art. I highly recommend seeing the project live when possible.
