Compilation tracks:
1. Daybreak
2. Little galliote
3. Nikana / Days of the plain
4. Diguedin
5. The wind will carry us
6. Frank You
7. Wo
8. The winemaker
9. Damn the lawyers
10. The wagon
11. The little monk
12. The Drowned Gallant (Yes for the Right)
13. Hold Up
14. In prison now
15. The big jig
16. The neck of my bottle
Feet reliable and faithful like a metronome. Hellish vocal precision (they are the coal miners, after all!). The Charbonniers de l'enfer have gleaned their essentials to celebrate 25 years of traditional a cappella music. It gives 25 years of great darkness, a worthy retrospective which is nevertheless not very dark for Michel Faubert , André Marchand , Michel Bordeleau , Normand Miron and the late Jean-Claude Mirandette . Jigs, laments, podorythmy, harmonies, archaic connections, irregular rhythms, good nature, humor and some ribaldness: it's all there.
The music of Les Charbonniers de l'enfer is far from erring on the side of simplicity, or on arrangements that have aged poorly. On the contrary, 25 years of great darkness is rather an opportunity to rediscover harmonies executed with finesse, delivered with visceral, true, instinctive energy. Petite galiote and La vignelon are good examples. The use of pedals (a continuous or repeated note, at the bottom of the harmony) gives richness to the arrangements. The splendid opening of Au devil the lawyers (which dates back to 2005), filled with surprising harmonic tensions, is just as convincing as an example of richness. The pairing of Nikana with Daniel Lavoie 's soaring Jours de plaine (an arrangement dating from 2011) will give goosebumps to fans of vocal harmonies. As for the choice to have deposited, the same year, Le vent nous portera , by Noir Désir , on a jig, it still astonishes.
Let's go back to the very beginning of the group's discography to mention the unison, demanding to achieve and worthy of mention, in the interpretation of the Drowned Galant (Yes for the right) . This 2005 arrangement transports us into the solemn world of a romantic tragedy typical of the folk repertoire. We even think we can detect a hint of the influence of Gregorian vespers in the melancholy treatment.
To contrast and prove that they are still the page, Les Charbonniers also dared to remix! The neck of my bottle has received the electro-pop treatment, up to date, which may please the most daring, but which risks making the ears of purists curl!
– Nathan LeLièvre (ICI Musique)