Label: Icarus Records

エクスペリメンタル〜ロック〜アンビエントを跨ぐ、非常に興味深いリリースを重ねるベルギーIcarus Recordsの出版作。Christine Ott (オンド・マルトノ、ピアノ、メロトロン)、Ophir Levy (ウード)、Mathieu Gabry (ピアノ、シンセ)からなるトリオユニットTheodore Wild Rideのデビュータイトル。まさにこのレーベルのカラーそのままと言える、フォーク、タンゴ、コンテンポラリーを行き来した魅力的な構造のアンビエント作品に仕上がっており、時折プリペアド・ピアノやオンド・マルトノによる実験サウンドも出現。ジャケットアートワークは音のイメージに合わせコダック・レチナで撮影されたフォトを使用。





Theodore Wild Ride started from the collaboration between French keyboardists Christine Ott (regular collaborator of Yann Tiersen, Tindersticks, Oiseaux-Tempête...), Mathieu Gabry (Snowdrops) and Oed player Ophir Levy. Theodore Wild Ride celebrates musical freedom and redefines the relationship between space and time with a special, unexpected orchestration.

A CLOSER LISTEN « The oud is the secret weapon of Theodore’s Wild Ride, whose diverse, self-titled album straddles the worlds of folk, rock and modern composition. (...) a set that is simultaneously contemplative and enthralling »
GONZOcircus « An ideal soundtrack for dawn »

Their first joint album is released on Icarus Records (Otto Lindholm, Kevin Verwijmeren, BOW,...), in collaboration with Consouling Sounds (Jozef van Wissem, Witxes...). The album unfolds like a magical film, which can be set in the vast American landscapes of bygone days as well as in a post-apocalyptic future.

From the naïve melody of “Little House” to the post-classical tango of “Paoha”, from the ambient of “Squirrel Creek” to the
progressive instrumental “Zeppelins”, the trio blends both Eastern and Western musical codes and references in a strong
coherence.
The amplified strings respond to the delicate sound of the felt-treated piano, the microtones of the Ondes Martenot mingle with the quarter tones of the oud, to the point of challenging the cracked electronics of a detuned mellotron in a final explosion.
A record like a solo expedition: a journey that the listener experiences accompanied by this unusual chamber music, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dark and vulnerable but always questioning our place facing natural forces, the wild world, and the cruelty of ourselves.

The artwork is by visual artist Jeroen De Wandel. After listening to the album and without knowing any background, he created the artwork with a manipulated photo, photographed in the American Yosemite Parc in 2018 with a broken 1935 Kodak Retina... which turned out to be a perfect fit for the backstory of this album, where time and space are not fixed concepts.