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Dragon Mandole : Esprits du soleil levant -cdr- (F/LA,rec.2005-2009)**°
Padrigh comes from a mixed marriage of a Lao father (Laos) and Breton mother (Bretagne,France), while his music has the heart of an Asian longing back to his roots and yet having found a new way. Musically you can hear Asian flutes, mandolin and such playing improvisations in an Asian way (occasionally with a Lao traditional), while also using lots of neo-folk kind of percussion with dark dynamics (bells, bass drums, possibly partly produced by keyboards or with resonances that give a more blurry effect) and distorted guitars. The heavy loaded nature of these trembling restraints mixed with the Asian melodies give a very sad feeling, while the musical backgrounds effects become dominating the scene with its drones. It is as if it is about a land conquered and governed by a dragon nowadays. The multifold package explains stories and reference points. There are references to some Asian comics, and an Asian game based upon a romantic lonely story of a boy who is different and who has to find his own way, where he used some of the voices from the comics, as well as certain Asian singing (samples of the voice of Ico, Yorda, Queen Millenia and Hajime-kun). Another story refers to the first Asian people who crossed the land to form a new life in America centuries ago. There’s also a story of a dream passage of a village inside a volcano. This could describe the music somewhat, where the ‘dragon’ is like the lava surrounded everywhere by distorted vibrations of the music, so that the Asian voices are blurred or dominated by background sounds in that way as if they come from deep down into the earth, from a certain past. Another story is that of a destroyed city which brings back memories from the past. All these images show the same context which is well transmitted into the music which expresses it, tragic or dramatic, with distant voices that can hardly become real.
(PS. the notes in the booklet are all in English)
