Wednesday 20 May 2015

Les Chants Magnétiques Part 1 (Jean-Michel Jarre, 1981)

This rather long epic (some 17 minutes) fills the A side of Jarre's album "Les Chants Magnétiques", also released as "Magnetic Fields" for the International markets. Actually, the French title includes an untranslatable double meaning based on the same French pronunciation of "Les Champs Magnétiques" (that's to say "Magnetic Fields") and "Les Chants Magnétiques" (meaning "Magnetic Songs"). 

Those "Magnetic Fields/Songs" are Jarre's fifth studio work.

This is a very Jarre-sque track, if I can say so, full of electronic devices and also packed with musical intuitions, unusual atmospheres and strong emotions. In addiction to this, the composition is a classically conceived one, with effective themes and clever variations, tempo changes based on the concerto schemes and a profusion of gace notes. In spite of such a big deal of ideas, the music is light and almost transcendent, as an arcane message from another world. As usual, this artist walks on the narrow dividing line between baroque shows and inner musical experience. And he keeps his balance so well...

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