Gorgones by Al Ghar

Gorgones by Al Ghar

I first discovered Nour Laurène Pierre-Magnani as a singer in the Gros Caillou collective that I'm a huge fan of. And a mighty singer she is, but it turns out she's also a stunning bass player and a fantastic songwriter. Gorgones is not jazz, although there's a lot of jazz in there, it's primarily about songs and their meaning. While there are guests here and there, the album's minimalism (the band is primarily Pierre-Magnani on bass and vocals and Neige Arnaud on drums, percussions and backing vocals) is what shines through. The opener, Langocha, is stellar and builds up wonderfully. I'm very keen on the faux creole of Alorka Jae which really had me scratching my head. I Adelfi Mou is very moving and the closer Samanji (sung in a North African language, I suspect, but I won't venture to guess) is really powerful. For reasons I don't really understand, I'm often unmoved by very precise voices, what I would be tempted to call 'operatic'. While Al Ghar features a voice capable of that, Pierre-Magnani uses it with just the right level of restraint for the technique not to take over from the power to deliver a message. Superb discovery, go check Al Ghar out on their Bandcamp here.