Amiral! – Les Territoires interdits (2014)

Hailing from France today we have a very interesting release from the enigmatic Amiral!, titled “Les Territoires interdits”. Mixing ambient and trip-hop influences, this release moves the band further into the cinematic realm with very futuristic and tense pieces that elevate the listener’s state of consciousness.

Opening with the very ethereal and magical “Barry”, this one-man outfit sets a very unique and promising mood. Other tracks perfectly complement each other in terms of buildup like “Nu, dépouillé” and the very upbeat “Jericho II”. We prefer more dreamy songs like “Papa maman”, the mysterious “survivre en mer” and the very peaceful “réserve indienne”. Amiral!’s strength lies on the ability to create very piercing songs that while minimalist in nature, engage the listener in multiple ways.

Our personal favorite track in this release is the very melancholic “Carmen Dela” and its very bleak progression. Coming as a strong second favorite is the Noise-ish closer “Miroir ô miroir”. While not very diverse, this release presents very unique tracks that are quite engaging and will require more than a few listens to fully digest.

As a whole, “Les Territoires interdits” is a pretty solid release with very cinematic tracks. There are only a few riffs here and there as interesting ideas, but everything else is more ambient than before. If you like band’s like Lebowski and Closed Room, this is something in the middle that can appeal to you. Released under Creative Commons license, you can head to Amiral!’s site to get a copy of this release.

Label: Self-Release

Release: December 2014

Genre: Ambient /Trip-hop

Country: France