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Bumcello's Californian mix
Lychee Queen
25/07/2008 -
Drummer and percussionist Cyril Atef and his cellist sidekick Vincent Ségal have not only recorded six albums in less than ten years, but within that same period the prodigious pair have also hired themselves out as musicians and producers, collaborating on over sixty albums at home and abroad. "We simply haven't stopped!" says Atef, "And the interesting thing is that these days we're working a lot more abroad than we used to." Atef proceeds to reel off an impressive list of film soundtracks, albums (by the likes of Susheela Raman and Blackalicious) and collaborations on innovative projects such as Welcome to the Voice(*), a contemporary opera written by Elvis Costello's keyboard-player Steve Nieve which also features contributions from Elvis Costello, Sting, Robert Wyatt and Barbara Bonney. Meanwhile, Bumcello are also planning to head out to a studio in Mauritius this summer to work with the maloya star Nathalie Natiembé (whom they met last year at an artistic residency organised by the Sakifo Festival in Reunion).
Such extraordinary musical diversity in their collaborative projects does not seem to have destabilised the duo when it comes to their own work, however. Atef claims that over the years he and his cellist partner "have developed a knack for getting straight to the core of what we want to do in a very short space of time. What happened with the new album, 'Lychee Queen', was that we improvised enough to give us an initial framework for the album. Then we went into a studio in Paris and managed to get the base of the album down in just three days. We spent the fourth day editing what we'd done and on the fifth we were ready to record the artists who guest on the album including Magic Malik, Mama Ohandja and Ibrahim Maalouf."
California dreaming
The duo's desire for a change of sound ultimately influenced their respective playing styles on the new album and Ségal claims that "We've both been a bit more supple on our instruments this time round. The overall effect has been that this new album sounds sweeter than our previous work. It's got a softer, more feminine side to it." The cellist, who also branched out to play bass, guitar and synthesizer on the new album, admits that Lychee Queen also owes a significant debt to the mixers who gave the album its gleaming sound patina. "The guys over in the States really know what they're doing in terms of sound," he says, "When in the past we've worked in France, Brazil or the U.K. we've never been totally satisfied with the sound. We've always felt that there were certain details, sometimes just minute little things, that sounded a bit slapdash in the final mix. But this time round I can honestly say everything was carefully honed down to the finest detail. That's not to say we don't have our own 'savoir-faire' in France. You only have to listen to past recordings made on labels such as Ocora, Harmonia Mundi or Saravah to realise that."
Experimental soul
Lychee Queen has a strong soul vibe to it throughout, Ségal explaining that both he and Atef are "huge fans of Shuggie Otis. We love experimental soul and we're really into groups like the Latin Playboys (Ed.: actually more of a 'project' than a group, initiated by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez from Los Lobos in 1994)." "It's obvious that soul has really made its mark on music the world over," Ségal continues, "Together with funk, soul injected a whole new dynamic into the music scene. And we really wanted to tap into a sound like that. What's more, we knew if we did we'd have the chance to work with musicians we feel really close to, guys we just never stop wanting to play with!"
A number of musicians close to Bumcello's heart feature prominently on Lychee Queen, the French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf guesting on three tracks, Magic Malik and his magic flute appearing on four and Chocolate Genius putting in some superb guest vocals on the menacing No Enemies (a song about police violence in L.A.). Mama Ohandja also puts in an appearance on the album, providing a burst of assiko (a lively rhythm from his native Cameroon) while Blackalicious and friends from the Quannum collective add their inimitable flows to One Two Three. Magic Malik contributes vocals to Eurostar (a thought-provoking number about illegal immigrants dreaming of a better life for themselves as they hang around the entrance to the Channel Tunnel) and even Tommy Jordan, the American producer (and cover designer) of Lychee Queen was persuaded to lend his soft velvet vocals to the album's title track.
Musical constellations
As to the mysterious name of Bumcello's latest album, fans need look no further than a small Chinese fruit. "I love lychees," Atef enthuses, "When you pick them up they feel all rough and hard on the outside. But bite into them and you find they're really soft, juicy and sensual inside. Vincent picked up a lychee one day and started fantasising about how it looked like a little asteroid and you could just imagine it floating up in space with all these planet-fruits gravitating around it."
The twelve tracks on Bumcello's new album also gravitate neatly within their own planetary system, functioning independently but also orbiting around one another and striking up free associations. Meanwhile, the rich musical mix Atef and Ségal experiment with (ranging from club beats to chamber music via Brazilian and African sounds) is pulled smoothly into the overall constellation. So how, in conclusion, would the duo describe their sixth opus? "Hard on the outside and sweet and sensual inside!" decides Cyril, cracking into a lychee.
Bumcello Lychee Queen (Tôt ou tard/Warner)
(*)Welcome to the Voice available as a CD on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Squaaly
03/11/2005 -
