1998 CD 550 Music 68726
1998 CS Sony 68726
1998 CD Sony 68726
2001 SCD Sony 68726
Deep Forest's third album Comparsa continues the world-music potpourri
Deep Forest is known for, though there is a pronounced focus on Latin
and Caribbean grooves, provided by musicians from Cuba, Belize, Mexico
and Madagascar, among other places. Although the nationalities present
are truly global, the actual sound of Deep Forest hasn't changed that
much, centering mostly on lush new age music with just a bit more of an
edge than is usual, plus several tracks with whispered or restrained
vocals. For fans of the debut album, Comparsa is a noteworthy, though
hardly necessary, acquisition.
Die sinnliche Melange aus Afro-Stammesgesängen, Folklore,
Dance-Rhythmen und Chorälen geht unter die Haut. Zu seinem dritten
Ethno-Manifest holte sich das französische Duo Unterstützung
von Sänger Wes Madiko und Jazzlegende Joe Zawinul.
"Noonday Sun": For cultural imperialism as curatorial droit de siegnor,
this one is better than most; it keeps touching the lands it samples.
See, when the township m'banqa horns start burbling in, you get jitney
jaunty, like a vacation mood. Sonic sunshine prevails, with clouds over
the Celts like driftforest Dublin, to the point where, between the
keens & choruses, you cease to care if it's Emerald Isle shanties
or strangulated- croons- in- odd- registers- via- gated- mike- break
pygmy vocals. (See Deep Forest I.) When a Colombian/ Venezulean
valnetta melody checks in, the coke barons of the hills race downslope
to a speed reed squeeze. A North African trip at the end adds just one
more chance to make a bizarre combo, when it gets into an Enya-ish
duet. Maybe a tad too New Ageist, true, but the synthesizer smoothers
just mean it blends into the background, and jumps out too. Actually
pretty catchy... if you soak in it. Casual listeners may wait for it to
appear at your local chi-chi bistro during the cocktail hour.
Although it could be too soon to make this call, Deep Forest just may
have produced the house cleaning album of the year. Their third album,
Comparsa, contains the kind of bouncy, mindless fun that whisks one
away from the task at hand to infinite and impossibly exotic distances.
This is not to say the music itself is mindless, so much as the entire
experience is akin to watching a foreign film sans subtitles. The album
does contain raw emotions like joy, anger, hope and despair that,
whether shrieked by pygmies or chanted by nomads, ring clear as a bell.
This is a testament to Deep Forest's voiceless musical duo, Eric
Mouquet and Michel Sanchez, who trot the globe as self described "sound
reporters," but also to the universality of music itself. A lyric sheet
in the liner notes would provide a welcome Rosetta stone for those
interested in forging beyond the pure exotica of the listening
experience, but one is occasionally tipped off by titles like "Radio
Belize." With influences as geographically diverse as Cuba and
Madagascar and musically varied as zydeco and polka, one is in for
quite a bumpy ride, but that could be more of a beef with the world
music genre than this particular album which is well produced and
exhilarating. And although these songs may not be showing up on the
neighborhood karaoke machine anytime soon, dust bunnies are already
quaking with fear.
You are walking down a narrow street in Paris and suddenly you're
struck by a lively sound funneling towards you -- music that is
initially unfamiliar, but is immediately captivating. You go in for a
closer look and listen, stepping rhythmically in time to what you hear.
Around the corner, a band of men are playing guitars and exotic
percussion instruments at full speed in front of a pleased crowd of
other passersby. While you speculate that perhaps they hail originally
from South America, you toss a few bits of currency into their kitty,
because music like that is a gift you cannot accept freely. It's turned
your day around into something suddenly and unexpectedly bright. What
you may not know, is that you also have just encountered a "comparsa."
To capture the feeling of an encounter such as this is the aim of
self-described world music "reporters" Deep Forest. On their third
album, Comparsa, the Deep Forest team of Eric Mouquet and Michel
Sanchez try to bring their audience the sun from warmer climes through
their festive up beats and global samples. Both Northern Frenchmen,
Mouquet and Sanchez travel the earth in search of often startlingly
beautiful and compelling sounds. They first got our attention in 1992
with their eponymous platinum-selling album and its poignant single --
complete with Pygmy vocals and lush joy -- "Sweet Lullaby." "Comparsa"
is a Cuban word meaning "partners." It is also used to describe street
music of the type described in the aforementioned fictional scene. Yet
a third meaning could be Deep Forest's musical partnership with the
world and its harder-to-find sounds. Research for Comparsa took the duo
to Mexico, Belize, and to the isle of Madagascar. They came away with
music that at moments begs you to bang the pi"ata. In other instances,
it insists that you rejoice in the sucking of a tequila-soaked worm
before a bonfire that brilliantly reflects off a night sky so riddled
with stars that awe overtakes you. Tracks like "Noonday Sun" and
"Forest Power" make sitting still impossible. Others like "Tres Marias"
and "La Lune se bat avec les etoiles (transition 2)" merely ask you
politely to tap your sandal- clad foot on the hot terra firma. But
overall, the album is Latin and African beats from end to end. And all
13 tracks sport Deep Forest's signature sounds, such as the distant
vocals in foreign tongues. One could say that Comparsa is Deep Forest's
party album. If you are unable to attend the world party, Deep Forest
will be more than happy to bring the world party to you.
For over six years, Deep Forest's controversial sonic Cuisinart has
been slicing, dicing and pureeing world music into bland techno-scapes,
hitting commercial paydirt with each release. And like its
predecessors, Comparsa's runny combination of influences barely holds
together. The disc finds traditional African, Cuban and French music
merged with a heavy dose of Euro-dance beats and twiddly synth sounds.
The result is little more than monotonous sonic sludge that's far from
the sum of its parts.
Anil Prasad - Dirty Linen
Deep Forest emerged in as a unique phenomenon in the '90s, employing
the ambient musical techniques established in the '70s and '80s, but
with an added twist. Using natural sounds and souped-up technology to
create something of a world-music/ambient/techno fusion, Deep Forest
captured the imagination and ears of millions of listeners. COMPARSA
represents not a departure so much as a strengthening of position. Deep
Forest finds those elements of their sound that speak most directly to
the listener and expands on them to fine effect. Fans of their music
will be slightly surprised at some of the new timbres and rhythms on
COMPARSA, but they will certainly not come away dissapointed.