Post-Crash by Missing Waves

 

Missing Waves are Marie-Catherine Mossé singing, playing machines and keyboards, Daniel Palomo Vinuesa blowing into tubes, shaking scissors and brushes while Nabil Bouteldja taps on drums and percussion.

 

When I suggested to saxophonist Daniel Palomo that the music of Missing Waves wasn’t strictly prog, he replied with a smile that he hoped they were “strictly nothing.” He’d just sent me Missing Waves' first album which was released in late October on the Brocoli label and I thought that despite the short length of the tracks, there was sufficient  variation and complexity to interest the ProgBlog readership.

Imagine Portishead crossing the road to meet Robert Fripp, Kate Bush partnering with Talk Talk, or Björk recording with Robert Wyatt. Post-Crash is an unexpected journey that mixes pop songs, improbable sounds and dreamy ambiences. It may also sound like John Surman playing saxophones over a deconstructed—then reconstructed—electronica production; a flirtation with experimental music without ever getting away from sharp and heady melodies. Flying cats meet dada looking for a cure of good vibrations.

It transpires that Palomo is a huge prog fan (Van der Graaf, King Crimson, Gentle Giant rank among his favourite bands) so his approach to music shouldn’t come as any surprise.

The three members of Missing Waves are all professional musicians, teachers at the private Grand Paris EDIM school (Education, Diffusion, Information and Music) founded in 1983 and recognised by the French Ministry of Culture, where they met in 2014.

Palomo has been playing saxophone since he was young but describes his main duties as sound design and production; vocalist, keyboard and assorted device player Marie-Catherine Mossé  began singing in various alternative bands; and aside from his work with Missing Waves, drummer Nabil Bouteldja works in jazz and world music spheres. The music is composed and performed collectively and this approach, tapping in to their diverse backgrounds, is responsible for a unique blend of styles beautifully blended with a delicate pop-sensibility.

Why Post-Crash? Crash refers to when a computer stops functioning, destroying the memory of past projects. Post is the concept of pursuing only things that deserve to be. It comes from their common desire to mix a love of vocals, songs, and a taste for sound research and lost waves.

Copies of the album can be ordered here