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Album cover

Tumble Home - Tumble Home

Artist: Tumble Home
Title: Tumble Home
Label: Red Sea Records RED5018
Length(s): 59 minutes
Year(s) of release: 2002
Month of review: [11/2002]

Line up

Onno Ottevanger - piano, vocals
Remy Parisis - trumpet, bugle
Francois Moreau - drums, percussion
Phillippe Ammeloot - guitars, bass

Tracks

1) Citizen Clone 5.45
2) French Postman 4.54
3) Tumble Home 3.01
4) La Mardite 1.19
5) Huis Clos 6.24 MP3 or RealAudio
6) The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter 4.37
7) Idem And Rye 2.14
8) Judy Two 4.19
9) The Process 1.23

Summary

Tumble Home is a band from France, presenting themselves on this album that's pretty jazzrocky, with a hint of experimentalism.

The music

Citizen Clone opens a duet between a strumming guitar and an off key trumpet. Ottevanger's spoken vocals change the atmosphere of the song drastically, though. Following this section a lengthy jazzrocky guitar section leads into the final return of the strumming guitar.

French Postman is more jazzrocky, dominated by trumpet, guitar and piano, each at their own time. The trumpet's time being a little longer.

Tumble Home is a gentle piano track, accompanied by percussion. Followed by La Mardite, being a hissy electronic track. Nice intermezzo.

Huis Clos is another jazzrocky one, not particularly interesting.

The trumpet in The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter reminds me of Miles Davis' later works. This sound is a drastic improvement on the shrillness of the previous tracks. Ottevanger's spoken vocals (somewhat like Lou Reed's) give the track an extra dimension the others miss direly.

Idem And Rye is a nice instrumental bit.

Judy Two is classic bass, piano and drums, with the occasional trumpet. The shrillness of the trumpet seems to hide the nice atmosphere created by the other instruments. The oncoming of the voice gives the track a pleasant turn, with guitar and trumpet even creating something avant gardish towards the end.

The Process finishes the album with what, well, is an intermezzo.

Conclusion

Most material on this disc is of the jazzrocky kind, and not always as interesting, especially since the sharp trumpet tends to diminish any hint of intimacy. The vocal tracks Citizen Clone and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter are pleasant exceptions to this rule, but they can't quite hide the fact that this album isn't anything but just okay.

© Roberto Lambooy