They say that if you want to really understand an artist, you have to dig into his past, way down to the beginning. This is what the Americans from Not Not Fun did with Ssaliva, a Belgian producer recognised for his work released on imprints such as Vlek and Bepotel, and, of course, for his Cupp Cave alias.
François Boulanger’s debut album, Mercury Coast, was initially released in 2011 on Surf Kill. It is safe to say that if you haven't heard it back then, you'll be dealing with a heavy 22 tracks odyssey, passionately rich in substance, playing with certain types of lo-fi sounds and synths, exploring a nostalgic state where a listener’s brain could fell in and dive for hours. Sounds of the past; a past filled with joy, happiness and depression. This is that kind of outlandish albums, which reminds you of the other world that you’ve never lived in but always were aware of, a world that is gone now and it will never come back.
The shady musical universe evoked by Ssaliva can’t be positioned into a certain space, but rather creates a space of its own. A system that works by its own, transporting all the gracious and virtuousness that the good old lo-fi 80s tapes contain. This is where great record labels such as Not Not Fun interfere and create a confortable environment for special music such as this LP. This is music from the past, and from the future. It is our acceptance of the low forms of materiality from our life.
A sound. And a guitar. A sound specifically crafted to carry all the history of its music with it, to absorb the listener into its fascinating world, to charm and bewitch, to create parallel universes. To give something to the hearing.
Tracklist:
A1. A Few MistakesA2. Borys
A3. Cloud Gap
A4. Deep Stare
A5. Filigree Funk
A6. Health
A7. Hyperreal
A8. Laps
A9. Lesbian Chic
A10. Mace
A11. Netwind
B1. Outline Magic
B2. Owl Cave
B3. Red Sky & White Floor
B4. Regress
B5. Riggs
B6. School Rave
B7. Shored
B8. Sight Slide
B9. Trave
B10. Weav
B11. Witchrack