Immersive and mesmeric, and that is underplaying its presence, the debut album from Lune Palmer is one of the most transfixing soundscapes of emotional and sonic beauty to come along this year. The Rooster is an eight track release which resonates in thought and imagination whilst seducing with a blend of folk and melodic rock aligned to electro elegance. Vocally and musically the encounter wraps and washes the senses in ambient and atmospheric fascination, a coaxing which has the passions discovering a near on lustful greed for.
Hailing from Lausanne, Switzerland, Lune Palmer was formed in 2006 by Vladimir Skrivan (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and machines). Alongside a guitarist friend, the band was founded as a folk project based on Skrivan’s compositions. The sound of the band evolved as electronic elements were brought into the mix and the line-up changed across the subsequent years up to first EP Light Light of 2010. With inspirations from the likes of Blonde Redhead, Radiohead, and Portishead said to have added to the imagination adventure it is clear that here is where the majesty upon The Rooster began to blossom. The following year saw the band evolve again becoming the trio of Skrivan, Martin Perret (drums and machines), and Michael Gaio (keyboard, machines). In 2012 the band recorded their debut full-length, self-releasing it in March this year. Then August saw the band approached by Hummus Records about releasing the album, its wider release now coming via the label, and with a new line-up of guitarist Mathieu Jallut (Abraham), and drummer Antony Cohen alongside Skrivan and Gaio, Lune Palmer you suspect is poised to emerge as a major force in emotion fuelled atmospheric music.
Brutus Blume opens up the release with a dawning almost drone like slow sonic call which is soon joined by a delicious dark and 
emotive deep electro temptation. The shadow clad lure continues to tempt across the song as the rhythms add a lively energy but one restrained enough to compliment the emotive soak as the outstanding vocals of Skrivan seduce every syllable and note into existence which in turn work their seduction on the ears and passions of their recipients. Skrivan’s androgynous voice is sheer beauty, a spellbinding caress which like the music is pure and lean but dense and intense simultaneously. The rhythms constantly enslave attention and appetite just as impressively as the vocals whilst the melodic weave cast by keys and guitar embraces the imagination for a richly hued venture. It is a stunning entrance into the album.
The following Retracted Love does not have the bounce of its predecessor but certainly has all of the charm and craft, the vocals soaring to higher noted levels whilst the melancholic breath and touch of the keys accentuates their and the composition’s glory. With teasing enterprise from the guitar and firm rhythms framing the floating celestial toxicity of the song, Lune Palmer places the listener in an ethereal narrative of radiant magnetism, the same which can be said of the album and certainly the next up title track. Electro beats ‘niggle’ from start to finish whilst a pop air to the song shares its place with a hypnotic tango of rhythmic unpredictability. It is a track which takes a little longer to persuade but soon joins the ranks of potent peaks upon The Rooster, continuing the already clear diversity to the release. With a voice as strong and striking as here, a great many bands would slip into a similarity or formula caress across songs to maximise the delivery but Lune Palmer do not come close, every track distinct and presented in all aspects with an individual clarity which deeply impresses.
The sublime piano led ballad Meet Horselover Fat is the next tempter on the album, the song an evolving piece of emotional grandeur which intensifies and expands across its breath-taking length, and is immediately succeeded by the plainer but no less absorbing Océan Mer. Both tracks place new dark and light merged scenarios before the flight of the imagination before making way for the excellent Urban Monad 116 with its submerged beats alongside a riveting guitar persuasion. In many ways the track reminds of Young Marble Giants, the simplicity but unbridled wonderment at the heart of the song close to that of the Welsh band.
The release is completed by the smouldering Waters and finally the gripping Together; both songs quite beautiful with the last bursting with drama from every one of its notes. Also watch out for the wonderful hidden track at the end of the album, a folk sunset to bask in. They complete an astonishing release which words cannot do justice to, only direct encountering from ears and emotions can truly feel the melodic alchemy brought within The Rooster by Lune Palmer, and that is a must for all.
10/10
RingMaster 20/11/2013
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