Album Review: Merveille & Crosson - DRM

The best jazz groups are the ones who play off one another's rhythms, intuiting what should go where and where to lay off, allow the groove to move naturally and, to the listener, of its own accord. Electronic duo Ryan Crosson and Cesar               , here publishing under their surnames, clearly know the fact. This is not a jazz record by any means, but this style of internal, inward looking house electronica bears many similarities. Opening with Nymphean and Pending, we hear what sounds to be the artists, with guests, tuning up and finding their footing with very airy and relaxed minimal techno results.

Things kick into a more obvious groove with Again & Again, a dance track with pounding bass beats and very early-Four Tet-reminiscent horn tones that play with shimmering percussive sounds, still remaining within the frame a modern techno groove. It's a masterful song and really obviously the work of two musicians who know their craft. Follower, No Hassle, keeps the same approach, though suffers from its 12-minute run time.

This is an interesting record – it doesn't break any new ground in terms of production or composition (much of it does reek a little Four Tet derivative), but the lengths to which the separate elements here are pushed is worth pricking one's ears up at. The 13-minute title track channels Afro-centric 'world music' in an almost Dead Can Dance/Fela Kuti approach. Hearing the extremes of minimal techno, electro world music and house jazz pushed as far as they go while still being entirely 'artificial' and electronic is fascinating, especially when these styles of music are melded together so well, in a totally cohesive, if overlong, listen.