:zoviet*france:, "The Tables Are Turning"

Following the recent lavish 7.10.12 box, the enigmatic :zoviet*france: have complied another release, albeit in a more conventional package, that continues the style of that set. Lush synthesizers, infrequent and erratic rhythms, and mysterious ambiences that shift from the delicate to the demonic make for another brilliant work in their long career.

Soleilmoon

This material is part of a score for the dance production Designer Body, in which seven dancers slowly remove their costumes as they stand on rotating platforms.This slow deconstruction from the most unnatural and decorated costuming to literal nudity is reflected in the music here, with the pieces building up and coming apart, all presented in a rotating and circular structure.

Also shifting quite a bit is the mood and atmosphere throughout, from terror to beauty.The massive subterranean rumble of "Moss Balls on Moss" has the band building to a frightening overdriven roar as robotic sounds and noisy loops darken the mood even more.The other extreme is "Amber Rose Hand," which features a similar bass drone, but melodic keyboard passages and what resembles a melody from an ancient music box ending on a placid, beautiful coda.

This parity continues throughout, and often defies first impressions from the instrumentation.For example, the brooding harpsichord sound that appears in "Green Air" would at first seem to lead to something much darker, but with the fragmented reversed bell tones and overall lighter sound, it makes for a rather sunny composition.Such levity is not apparent in "Sweeping Arbor Low," which instead has static laden layers of electronics and swelling bass, which is comparatively amusical.

Other pieces are not as polarized but instead transition between moods and atmospheres, akin to the performance they were composed for.The beginning parts of "Flam," with skittering synth patterns and deep bass mixed with sputtering bits of music are not too far removed from late 1990s minimal techno.However, the song builds and changes via processed and mangled sounds to become a mutated acoustic strings composition at the end.

The Tables Are Turning is one of those uncommon albums that wildly diverge in sound and mood from song to song, and sometimes within a single piece, yet still comes together as a consistent whole.Electronics that are comforting and then menacing; gentle chiming tones that become shrill and sharp as a scalpel, and always sounding like a perfect pairing.Even this far into their career, :zoviet*france: continues to be untouchable and unclassifiable in a field mired with poor knock-offs and weak pretenders.

samples:

• Amber Rose Hand
• Flam
• Sweeping Arbor Low