When you live in a city as beautiful as Toulouse, southwestern France, where aerospace industry and museums thrive for culture, and the weather relatively friendlier than the rest; music flourishes. And in the case of Uniform Motion, music and art are inseparable. Think of it like this, while watching the band perform you see a wide screen that interprets the music you hear; you watch sketches evolve with colors, the words you hear catch up with the melody that spells you as they are also being visualized for your eyes. Not so bad, right. Reading about the band’s fruition which started with a four-string guitar, battered but willing to strum a tune or two is an antithesis of how the band sounds in its third effort One Frame Per Second. The band, originally made up of Andy Richards (guy for the music) and Renaud Forestié (the guy for the illustration) and later joined by Olivier Piotte (the hands for the drums, keys, percussions), was initially inspired by Heller & Steele’s Monsters & Magical Sticks before taking off to a full-fledged band releasing Pictures (2009) and Life (2010) before the ambitious One Frame Per Second.
“My childhood, lopsided, crumbs, trouble, clear-sighted and leaning up against the wall,” narrates the Little Knight, the lead in One Frame Per Second. The Little Knight goes back to his childhood town to reunite with his Princess only to find his townspeople enclaved by fear of a giant who also kidnapped his love. The record, along nine tracks, tries to document the adventures he goes through ala Owen Pallett’s Lewis in Heartland, Billy Shears and his band in The Beatles’ Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club and Tori Amos’ cross-country heroine in Scarlet’s Walk.
At the beginning, the backbone of One Frame Per Second sounded too much of a fairytale; the concept story leads to an all-been-told assumption of how it could sound like, admit it or not (knight, princess, giant), and not for a serious record sustaining less than 40 minutes of listening time. However, straight from “The Victory Of Buckets And Doors” to the last three minutes of “An Island,” the record puts this prejudice to shame. The simple arrangement of the aforementioned “The Victory” gains its momentum on the follow-up track “Our Hearts Have Been Misplaced In A Secret Location,” a four-minute charmer about the Little Knight’s dismay on what he found left of his town recalling how was it then when he was younger, “there were hedges and cars/ there were people in their homes saying prayers.” One of the best tracks in the record “We’re Hauling Land Through The Air” feels as light as a feather, made up of crisp guitar plucking leading the sullen percussions before resting gently on Richards’ wistful voice as he sings about the sinking feeling of running out of time, “Such a rage, you inspired/ like we’re hauling land through the air/ Like the selfish man, I’m tired/ Like the falling tree, I wasn’t there, “ he glowers. Followed by the bitterly hopeful “I Will Put My Life On Tape,” the closer “An Island” has some of the most beautiful words in the record, bordering on the romantic, the Little Knight pleads “My heart is an island, just off the coast of you, and i’ll follow your trail until it takes we to you,” sealing the journey to a fading voice and distant guitar strumming.
The elaborate work dedicated by the band to their music and the visual project is documented in its expansive releases of homemade disc editions, illustrated vinyl and playbuttons. The group also has launched a project “One City Per Second” where the band asks pledges from its fans in support of touring their cities. Currently, the campaign has three cities involved and has less than a month of finishing off. These efforts extended by the band and the vision of expanding live entertainment from mere sit-listen-clap dynamic into a live sonic-visual treat make Uniform Motion an exceptional band that truly works for the love of music itself. Like its hero the Little Knight in One Frame Per Second fighting the forty-foot ogre, recalling forsaken memories and overriding hideous creatures, it seems as if Uniform Motion have got their struggles on their own to tell; they just made them too beautiful for us to hear with fantastical images and ambitions .
Links: Bandcamp. Blog. Facebook. Twitter. Reuno.
Filed under: Album Commentaries, Review Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second, Uniform Motion Andy Richards Renaud Forestié Olivier Piotte, Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second Album Review, Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second Toulouse
December 8, 2011 • 1:31 am
These Toulouse Illustrated Storytellers: UNIFORM MOTION
When you live in a city as beautiful as Toulouse, southwestern France, where aerospace industry and museums thrive for culture, and the weather relatively friendlier than the rest; music flourishes. And in the case of Uniform Motion, music and art are inseparable. Think of it like this, while watching the band perform you see a wide screen that interprets the music you hear; you watch sketches evolve with colors, the words you hear catch up with the melody that spells you as they are also being visualized for your eyes. Not so bad, right. Reading about the band’s fruition which started with a four-string guitar, battered but willing to strum a tune or two is an antithesis of how the band sounds in its third effort One Frame Per Second. The band, originally made up of Andy Richards (guy for the music) and Renaud Forestié (the guy for the illustration) and later joined by Olivier Piotte (the hands for the drums, keys, percussions), was initially inspired by Heller & Steele’s Monsters & Magical Sticks before taking off to a full-fledged band releasing Pictures (2009) and Life (2010) before the ambitious One Frame Per Second.
At the beginning, the backbone of One Frame Per Second sounded too much of a fairytale; the concept story leads to an all-been-told assumption of how it could sound like, admit it or not (knight, princess, giant), and not for a serious record sustaining less than 40 minutes of listening time. However, straight from “The Victory Of Buckets And Doors” to the last three minutes of “An Island,” the record puts this prejudice to shame. The simple arrangement of the aforementioned “The Victory” gains its momentum on the follow-up track “Our Hearts Have Been Misplaced In A Secret Location,” a four-minute charmer about the Little Knight’s dismay on what he found left of his town recalling how was it then when he was younger, “there were hedges and cars/ there were people in their homes saying prayers.” One of the best tracks in the record “We’re Hauling Land Through The Air” feels as light as a feather, made up of crisp guitar plucking leading the sullen percussions before resting gently on Richards’ wistful voice as he sings about the sinking feeling of running out of time, “Such a rage, you inspired/ like we’re hauling land through the air/ Like the selfish man, I’m tired/ Like the falling tree, I wasn’t there, “ he glowers. Followed by the bitterly hopeful “I Will Put My Life On Tape,” the closer “An Island” has some of the most beautiful words in the record, bordering on the romantic, the Little Knight pleads “My heart is an island, just off the coast of you, and i’ll follow your trail until it takes we to you,” sealing the journey to a fading voice and distant guitar strumming.
The elaborate work dedicated by the band to their music and the visual project is documented in its expansive releases of homemade disc editions, illustrated vinyl and playbuttons. The group also has launched a project “One City Per Second” where the band asks pledges from its fans in support of touring their cities. Currently, the campaign has three cities involved and has less than a month of finishing off. These efforts extended by the band and the vision of expanding live entertainment from mere sit-listen-clap dynamic into a live sonic-visual treat make Uniform Motion an exceptional band that truly works for the love of music itself. Like its hero the Little Knight in One Frame Per Second fighting the forty-foot ogre, recalling forsaken memories and overriding hideous creatures, it seems as if Uniform Motion have got their struggles on their own to tell; they just made them too beautiful for us to hear with fantastical images and ambitions .
Links: Bandcamp. Blog. Facebook. Twitter. Reuno.
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Filed under: Album Commentaries, Review Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second, Uniform Motion Andy Richards Renaud Forestié Olivier Piotte, Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second Album Review, Uniform Motion One Frame Per Second Toulouse