Milanku - Pris à la gorge

MILANKU - Pris à la gorge
2012
D7I Records / Tokyo Jupiter Records / Replenish Records

Milanku is a four-piece band from Montreal. They started in 2006 and released a first album in 2008, Convalescence. More recently, they came out with their second opus, Pris à la gorge. I thought about writing a few words here not only because it's a great album, but also because it will be pressed this Spring on vinyl by none other than the excellent Washington label Replenish Records (Vestiges, Alda, Rituals). The artwork displayed here is the later version.

What is Milanku? The short answer would probably be a francophone post hardcore band. They deliver a quality product, both in terms of composition, texts and production, that helps them standing out immediately. Their music uses many post rock ingredients to express melancholy - especially the little guitar in the background and the minimalistic drumming, as found in "Hypomanie", "La nausée" or "Inhibition". At the same time, they have a clear hardcore and sludge edge, found in the harsh guitar-and-vocals attack of songs like "L'inclination", "Dopamine" or the wall of sound of "La Chute". This is highly melodic, but the melodies are built with repetition and layers of instruments, rather than being delivered easily from one single instrument. The arrangements found on Pris à la gorge are worth mentioning, as they are key to this feeling of being "grasped by the throat" (Pris à la gorge) and swallowed into darkness. For example, the very first song, "La Chute", starts with this very quiet atmosphere built by a clean guitar, a muffled background noise, and a few spoken words that express personal distress. Then, when the guitars kick in, we're completely submerged by a wave of intense melancholic pain. Further into the song, there is a quiet build-up that brings the listener closer into the music, before closing the trap and resuming the song with the same intensity as earlier.

The texts add something powerful to the melancholic feel of the music. Drenched in nostalgy, they either express pain in their hardcore delivery, or intimacy when spoken ("Antalgie", "La nausée").

The production is excellent and contributes to this masterwork. It is far from being raw, but it has a few dirty details left intentionally in the mix, for example: the end of certain chords (noticeable in the end of a few songs), the saturation of the vocals, or the granular distortion of the guitars. All the effects and the arrangements are perfectly blended, and the crystal clear drum-and-bass backbone leave all the space needed for the guitars to create these overwhelming atmospheres.

The first reference that comes to mind is Le Kraken. Not only the two bands started about the same time, but they also share the same vocalist, Guillaume Chamberland. While each other's music genre is not that far apart, there is a clear difference in direction between the two: Le Kraken's songs are shorter, more post-hardcore driven, while Milanku's songs are more complex, more melodic, and use a lot of clean guitars.

Impressive.

http://milanku.bandcamp.com
http://www.storenvy.com/stores/57506-desordre-ordonne
www.replenishrecords.com