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Album review


Revolver

Music For a While


Paris 

10/06/2009 - 

Like many French bands of the moment, Revolver have looked across the Channel for inspiration, taking their name from a Beatles' album and their sound from Abbey Road. But the Parisian trio put an original spin on things, too, drawing on 17th-century Baroque influences in their work. Their accomplished debut album, Music For a While, combines consummate pop melodies and sublime vocal harmonies.

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Jérémie Arcache and Ambroise Willaume trace their friendship back to the pews of Notre-Dame-de-Paris where they both sang in the cathedral choir. Jérémie continued his classical music training after the choir, going on to study opera singing and the 'cello while Ambroise developed a passionate interest in pop. Ambroise hooked up with Christophe Musset, a guitarist friend he had met at the local 'lycée' and began trying out his first pop compositions. But then the two former choirboys met up again by chance in 2006 and the duo expanded into a trio.

In September 2006, Revolver was officially formed with Jérémie on 'cello, Christophe on guitar and Ambroise on vocals. Fusing contemporary pop melodies and Renaissance compositions, the Parisian trio recorded a debut EP and the first ripples of the Revolver buzz started to emerge.

You don't have to come from a classical music background to enjoy Revolver's first full-length offering, Music For a While. The trio may cite the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell as one of their formative influences, but the twelve tracks on their debut album delve deep into the pop canon following in the hallowed musical footsteps of Liverpool's Fab Four. The arrangements on a song like Luke, Mike & John are pure Abbey Road - and if you shut your eyes for a moment, you could swear you hear Paul McCartney himself on the Beatle-esque You Drove Me Home! 

Revolver could have limited themselves to putting a clever French twist on the Beatles, but their classically-inspired vocal harmonies take them way beyond that. Simply and unostentatiously, the Parisian trio serve up a series of "chamber pop" gems such as Birds in Dm, Balulalow and the melodramatic masterpiece Untitled N°1. Music For a While marks a decisive debut from a young trio we hope will be around for a while!


 Listen to an extract from Get around town
Revolver Music For a While (Delabel / EMI) 2009

Ludovic  Basque

Translation : Julie  Street