Murcof-The Versailles Session: Album Review

Hear the name 'Fernando Corona' and you could be forgiven for thinking of some embarrassing middle aged Spanish crooner who is busy working some West Indies cruise line, not a master of dark, atmospheric and minimal electronica.

If you're a fan of the former, stop reading now because that ship has sailed. If however, you are taken by moody soundscapes and the minimal blips and bleeps of modern electronica then Mr Corona, or Murcof as he is better known, is simply unmissable.

Inspired by contemporary composers such as Arvo Part and other minimalists who went before, Murcof combines a simplistic blend of samples and glitchy electronic beats usually positioned across long industrial drones.

This will not be for everyone though. Those who prefer the sort of minimalism found in the likes of the Detroit/Berlin techno scene's and in the works of Mills, Hawtin et al may find the soundscapes of Mr Corona a tad sparse. Although these glitchy beats do at times reach crescendo's of high rhythmic patterns, they do again quickly fall away into some obscure sampled piano loop or machine like drone which gently drains into the next track.

For those lovers of something a little more obscure, you know, the people who rate the Eraserhead score as a piece of inspired genius (Myself included), Murcof will read more like Mozart.
His latest offering, although differing from previous albums, will sit nicely in any good collection.
The Versailles Sessions was especially commissioned for the grand evening fountain display in the Jardin Du Roi at Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes, an annual festival of sound, light and water at Château de Versailles in France. And it is only in such a grand setting can his work be truly appreciated, as royalty of experimental electronica.

His latest offering, despite differing from previous albums, will sit nicely in any good collection.

Review By Patrick Fennelly