Aksak Maboul has released Une aventure de VV (Songspiel)

So Aksak Maboul’s fifth album is just out! In Une aventure de VV (Songspiel), the band’s core of Véronique Vincent & Marc Hollander took a playful sideways step to create this total work, a suite of fifteen pieces which can be described as an experimental audio play.

The thread running through Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is Véronique Vincent’s text, an enigmatic philosophical-poetical tale unfolding through monologues and dialogues, spoken and sung by a series of characters, alongside Véronique Vincent, who plays the main protagonist, VV. The characters are played by Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Blaine L. Reininger (Tuxedomoon), Alig Fodder, Audrey Ginestet & Benjamin Glibert (Aquaserge), Faustine Hollander and Don The Tiger. The music was written and performed by Marc Hollander, with contributions by the members of Aksak Maboul’s current live line-up.

The band have created companion videos for the album, one for each track. They’re not music videos, and don’t necessarily relate directly to the story, they’re more like dreamy illustrations of the moods, sometimes akin to vintage experimental short films.  

As most of the tracks on the album segue into one another, Aksak Maboul also wanted to put out complete versions of some of the songs, with their entire intros and outros. These ‘standalone’ versions are available as bonuses to anyone who buys the album on Bandcamp.

Initial praise from the press

An ambitious song-cycle… a staggering sonic treat (Uncut, UK)
A song suite that constantly confounds and probes, taking us on a journey, throwing up surprises with each repeated listen. The anglophone pop world doesn’t really have a band like Aksak Maboul, and it is our loss. In English terms, you’d have to imagine some improbable fusion of Rip Rig + Panic, Michael Nyman, Cabaret Voltaire and Kate Bush. Contemporary Album of the Month. (The Guardian, UK)  

An ambitious undertaking, startlingly well-conceived… … Vincent’s voice is warm and inviting throughout, and her imagination is to be cherished….That Aksak Maboul, a group formed 45 years ago, is currently operating at such an advanced and inspired level is almost unthinkable. (The Vinyl District, US)

Hollander’s ability to write memorable melodies, allied to Véronique’s finely fashioned lyrics, can result in beguiling pop tunes as wells more abstract narrative forms . Véronique Vincent’s remarkable ability to match [Hollander’s] allusive yet elusive music with sophisticated, playful lyrics is evident once again on Une Aventure.  (The Wire, UK)

A work of total world creation that will take you to very strange places. This dreamworld overlaps Tom Waits’s eternal boho bar crawl, the fairyland of Gong, the spaceship corridors of The Orb, and the tunings and structures are from a reality where Sun Ra, Zappa and Beefheart were the defining pillars of modern music... very very wonderful. (The Arts Desk, UK)
Véronique im Wunderland or: audio play meets avant-pop… An avantgarde musical… a real treat, 5/5.  (Musikexpress, DE)

Parfois, on dirait du Françoise Hardy version Pierre Boulez. Une heure d’ambiances oniriques aventureuses. Déjà l’un des originalités discographiques de l’année (Focus Vif, BE)

Standing perfectly on the cutting edge of 20th and 21st century music history.  (Nowamuzyka, PL)
Conçu à la façon d’une fiction radiophonique, le cinquième album de l’inclassable groupe bruxellois délivre un conte musical onirique nimbé de poésie surréaliste, qui stimule superbement l’oreille autant que l’imaginaire. Captivant de bout en bout, poétique et ludique, vraiment original, l’album apparaît comme un modèle d’expérimentation rêveuse, à l’image de toute la discographie d’Aksak Maboul. (Les Inrockuptibles, FR)

63 minutes de musique expérimentale, sans étiquette mais non sans âme... Cette œuvre est un continuum virevoltant d’ambient, électro, jazz, krautrock, illustrations sonores et autres esthétiques jamais aussi à l’aise qu’en dehors des clous. La pochette, une peinture originale de Ronan Barrot, donne une idée fidèle du séduisant brouillage des repères et de la créativité débridée d’Aksak Maboul. (Magic, FR)