Review Summary: Another great noise/math orgy from the cool french act.
Pneu is one hell of a weird french instrumental duo (classic guitar/drum) that surf on the math/noise/experimental scene with an equal amount of intelligence, aggressiveness, technical abilities and craziness that you can experiment not only in their great songs but also with their cool song names and the weird cover of their last LP. If you have ever heard of them, you know what you’re getting into as it’s not a different approach from the winning formula of their last two great albums : Highway to Health and Pince Monseigneur.
This album is called Destination Qualité (Quality Destination) and continues in the same vein as their precedent opus. It starts with Municipal Geographic; a noise orgy with a drum beat that is more a succession of fills than an actual beat with ultra fast and technical guitars. Within minutes, you’ll be charmed and waiting for more or you’ll already have switched the record! Pyramide Banane chocolat (chocolate-banana pyramid) just seems like the second part of the first song; although we are able to capture a sense of melody and something to hold on to from time to time. This is definitely an album that keeps you on the edge for the most part and it’s not a bad thing at all!
Catadioptre ambidextre (Ambidextrous Reflector) is a little more simple with a little less noisy stuff and more experimental math construction. Gin Tonique abordable (affordable gin tonic) however, is a clear shift; at about 10 minutes, it may look like the central piece of the record, but the song starts with 2 minutes of single notes and kick and makes you wonder if your CD player is jammed by playing with your nerves! This is the kind of stuff hard to explain to non-math/noise rock fan ; it just makes your expectations growing and growing by anticipating the moment it’s going to kick right in! Pneu plays really well with that with some ambient shredding that slowly starts just before we hit the 3 minute mark. Soon after, the drums start with some variations and it comes and goes to finally kind of take off at the eight-minute mark! As far as it may seem at first, this is kind of a typical progressive or post-rock song structure only with a much weirder approach. Instead of climaxing in a grandiloquent juxtaposition of melodic ensemble, it explodes (literally) in a noisy chaos of weird-ass guitar playing and upbeat drumming. Doesn’t mean it’s less fun though!
Temple Machine is one of the most interesting song of the album. A really punk-rock beginning with ultra fast drumming and easy listening riff with a bunch of rhythmic variations through the 2 minutes it last. It’s also at a perfect point on the album as it’s like a second beginning after the last song. The Biggest, the Ankle follows with kind of an opposite register though; seems like a sound check with a drummer hitting around and guitar player playing with notes and feedback. This is one of the few low point of the album as its been done and done; clearly unoriginal and unnecessary on a record that is otherwise much more innovative and stimulating. Deserve maybe to be an hidden song at the end of the record…
Fortunately, Hinges kicks in right after and Pneu are back on track for the last two songs of the album. This one is the only one with vocals (by Pete Simonelli) and, with it’s stoner influence at first (loud and heavy rhythm with hollow vocals), is another example of the versatility and variety of influences in Pneu. Its slower tempo kind of indicate a shift towards the end of the album, but without decreasing our interest in any way. Astronomism finally close the album in the vein of the last songs. The structure is maybe a bit typical for a closer with its more standard and slower riffing that vanish little by little until the end, but it’s still an enjoyable piece of work.
At 37 minutes, Pneu understood that you can’t make an album like this an hour long. It’s a record with its own strong personality even if we can see a bunch of clear influences from the various contemporary math and noise bands. This isn’t revolutionary, but it delivers well in what it is trying to do and seeing how fun the guys seems to have playing it, we have that much fun while we’re listening to it.
