Poivre Rose by Bhopal’s Flowers–Album Review
Poivre Rose by Bhopal’s Flowers–Album Review
Poivre Rose (Schinus Terebinthfolius or Schinus Molle) is a pink peppercorn described as being light, aromatic, slightly sweet, with a resinous taste. Led by Lionel Pezzano, Montreal-based Bhopal’s Flowers’ new album is entitled Poivre Rose. Its complexities resound through all the senses. The tracks are slightly sweet and most definitely aromatic, as they are cinematic, AND dramatic! The album’s palette features tones of dusty rose, prickly pear, and gold mallows. I was lucky enough to be one of the first to hear Poivre Rose in its entirety. For me, it felt as if the floor shrank away below me, the walls surged upwards toward a cobalt blue Paul Bowles sky, which then fell gently away, revealing a hazy sepia-toned pink and purple dusty floral surrounding—J’ai été envahie par un parfum de santal et de rose.
The album is orchestral and exotic. A sitar and a Persian Tar are featured predominantly throughout. The two instruments intertwine, forming harmonic whorls of gold and platinum filigree. You might note that curious tragedy you’ve heard before in a Gainsbourgian ouvre. The airy, spindly
Related: Joy of the 4th by Bhopal’s Flowers–album review
allure of many of the tracks is often riveted down by bass playing that sounds familiar (like Dave Richmond playing his Burns Bison electric bass on L’Histoire de Melody Nelson from 1971).
The title track acts as the opening credits for the rest of the album. We are whisked away to a desert landscape. The lyrics accompany us there!
From my mouth/
You fizz my tongue/
Jets of light sparkling sounds/
You bring my mind far beyond/
You pink delight from another world
The words “Poivre Rose” are whispered after each stanza, and the voice is as mysterious and elusive as a silhouette. Is Pezzano addressing an exotic spice or a fleeting unobtainable being?
The whole album, composed by Pezzano, manages to weave between traditional Indian classical music and 20th-century psychedelic motifs, effects, and instrumentation. The follow-up to the opener is “Purple Revolution”. It is a colorful reminder that the band is aware of 90s psychedelia, as you might catch hints of Happy Mondays’ “Kinky Afro,” but with Eastern influences. “Saffron Vision” features more modern drumming that is gently metronomic, but less in
Related: Incense, Myrrh, & Gold b/w Jingle Bells by Bhopal’s Flowers
your face than that of Mr. Starky’s in say “Tomorrow Never Knows”. “Transcendental Hotel” has a lot of modern psychedelic texture, with Leslie guitars and a host of other stringed instruments. The song feels very coily and metallic, as if you’re walking through a field of stretched-out slinkies.
There are two real standouts on the album. One is an epic track called “Mirroir Mirroir”. It sounds like a pairing of a Barry White composition with Nino Rota’s “O Venezia, Venaga, Venuzia” from Il Casanova di Federico Fellini! Vocals are perfectly and hauntingly mic’d, and the room sound might remind one of Brigitte singing the refrain from “Initials B.B.” The second is “Kaleidoscope,” which begins as if the sitar and Tar break off into glassy fractals of light. This song has a gorgeous, ethereal chorus softer than the most sun worn pink chambray sundress! Later in the song, appearing through beaded curtains, you hear a sample of Jane Birkin’s unmistakable doe-eyed, knock-kneed, precious little French that les français adorent (Birkin would later tell the singer Mickey “Je t’emmerde” in an ironic tribute to her vulnerable and painfully naïve image).
“Mango Moon” concludes the album, and that familiar voice returns, whispering “Poivre Rose” in the opening track. The spirit has returned, but you are reminded that your voyage through some far-off desert will be coming to an end.
Upon hearing the album in its entirety, you’ll agree that it is soft, piquant, with floral and woody scent profiles, and replete with airy exoticism. It should be played at the highest volume on vintage Klipsch Speaker monoliths in Zabriskie Point! But hold on to your dusty rose lacy shawl and beware of the vultures gathering around those speakers!
Poivre Rose drops today, April 10th!
Riffindots is Britta Pejic. Britta is a musician. Songwriter. Artist. Foreign Language Teacher. Grew up in Maine. Lived in France (The Basque Country). Now back in New England. Enjoys getting lost. Makes a lot of songs at home, puts them into a canister, then into a hatch, and then through her own pneumatic tube system under the Atlantic. The songs are vacuumed out the other end, dusted off and polished by Console Lole, her loyal sound engineer back in Basque Country. It’s a system that works well for her. Follow @riffindots for cartoonish fun and visual mayhem or simply enjoy her music at https://brittapejic.bandcamp.com
Gallery
Recent Articles
