Album review

Gonzales’s ivory tower

Chess and piano games

Paris 

06/09/2010 - 

Ever faithful to his pet instrument, the keyboard, Gonzales is back with Ivory Tower. The new album is also the soundtrack of the first film written by and starring the Canadian musician.

Gonzales has his hand in all kinds of pies and often the least expected. He might be found performing with Katerine or Charles Aznavour, lurking in the studio, or in a Parisian theatre beating the record for the longest concert. His latest project is a film, written with Céline Sciamma (who directed and wrote La Naissance des Pieuvres) and Adam Traynor, who directed it. Gonzales also acts in the film alongside Montreal-based DJ, Tiga. The two Canadian musicians portray a pair of chess playing brothers in love with the same woman, played by the singer Peaches.

For the music, Gonzales got together with the Berlin band Boys Noize to compose the film’s original sound track. The very uniform album systematically calls on Gonzales to play the piano, an instrument he loves so much that he once made it the focus of a whole album, Solo Piano. Boys Noize avoid putting Gonzales’s music through the their techno grinder. Instead, he discretely adds his electronic rhythm, sometimes sending things out of kilter. The rhythm is fairly funky on You Can Dance and very house on Siren Song, carried by the piano and vocoder-filtered voice work.

Ivory Tower opens with Knight Moves and Feist’s ethereal vocals, but then takes a more instrumental turn, which is what you might expect from a soundtrack. But Gonzales takes us back to 80s pop and 70s disco, displaying both his musical knowledge and a sense of humour. He ends the album, which wavers between melancholy and light-hearted tracks, with a rap against an instrumental version of Never Stop. Rapper, pianist, screenwriter and actor… Gonzales knows no limits.

Chilly Gonzales Ivory Tower (Gentle Threat/Wagram) 2010

In concert at the Trianon, Paris, on 27 November 2010 with 2 drums and 2 pianos.

Screening of the film Ivory Tower in Paris, at Ciné 13, on 12, 13, 19 and 20 September 2010 at 7.30 PM and 9.30 PM and on 3 October with Gonzales on piano.

Nicolas  Dambre

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper