Le Rêve De Polyphème, also on Pagans, departs completely from the French folk brief.
It’s a sparkling collaboration between the Nanterre-based, eight-person gamelan ensemble Gamelan Puspawarna (‘gamelan’ refers at once to the instrumentarium, the musical style and the group) and darbuka-player Wassim Halal, wedding Balinese music to Halal’s exploration of Lebanese and Turkish romani influences. The interlocking gamelan phrases, chiming and rippling, sit so beautifully with Halal’s nimble, shuffling beats that there isn’t a dull moment on the 19-minute ‘L’heureux Loup’.
Elsewhere electronic sounds and effects are introduced. On ‘Murmurations’ a trickling synth sound is like a gentle massage and the sounds from the ensemble appear at times to be on the verge of dissolving.
By contrast ‘Cynoque’ opens with bursts of noise like digitally processed animal cries before hitting you with a high-speed barrage of frantic, metallic polyrhythms. Le Rêve De Polyphème is a wonderfully successful experiment, by turns meditative and invigorating.