Teaser For: Matter

French release September 2004 (Unique/Baleine) UK release May 2005 Megaphone/Southern) \r\nangil by Martin Aston (Mojo, Q, The Times) : Some records offer an immediate clarity. Others are layered, deceptive, elusive, teasing. What lies behind those wide, white eyes of the figure on the cover of ‘TeaserFor:Matter'? What's in that album title? And why does 26 year old Frenchman Mickaël Mottet call himself Angil? It wouldn't be an issue if ‘Teaser For: Matter' wasn't so involving and memorable. 26-year old Mickaël started playing the piano and organ at the age of six, and formed his first band when he was 16. Which is how he could write the parts of most arrangements in Teaser for: matter (cello, Rhodes...) and play the rest (drums, guitars). His cousin Francis Bourganel (who plays saxophone in the album and with Angil's live band, The Hiddentracks) has always been Mickaël's "spiritual guide". Together, they discovered Beck's Mellowgold, Sonic Youth, Swell... "A whole new world". This is when Mickaël started writing songs and making demos... one 10-year leap and here we are - Mickaël has now become a professional English translator and achieved Teaser. As seen from here, it has tinges of Britain's late 1960s Canterbury sound (early Soft Machine) meeting the blurry depths of folky Americana (Morphine, Low), with occasional nods to abstract hip hop (Why?). Or as French music bible Les Inrockuptibles sees it, "folk becomes a dangerous music again, playing without a net in a phantasmagoric universe." "The album is almost a tribute to Lisa Germano's Love Circus" [4AD, 1994], Mickaël says. "Especially for how she arranges songs. That's such an important album to me. But there are influences too from improvising composers like John Cage. On the album, Laura Grando plays flute without having heard most the songs she plays on. I would tell her which notes she could play, and then she'd write her own parts and play without headphones. Randomness can be as beautiful as mastering something. Then there's Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman for the brass sound. Yo La Tengo and Low for guitars. I wanted the lowest, deepest sounds..." The man's clearly a deeply committed music fan and scholar. But then he's been exposed to so much music via the local weekly radio show that he hosts with his friend Flavien Girard, who appears on the album with the credit ‘Circus Bands.' "Our programme is called Le Morceau Cache, which means ‘Hidden Track'. We mix very odd things together, like Sun Ra with hip hop. Flavien and I even play instruments over records, and we improvise lyrics in English. On stage, Flavien plays strange vinyl sounds..." \r\nAngil & the Hiddentracks have been touring in France since Teaser for: matter was released there, with the likes of Bright Eyes, Troy von Balthazar, The Kills, Zita Swoon, Joseph Arthur... and they are willing to tour virtually everywhere, thanks to the adaptable format of the Hiddentracks, from 1 to 12! For instance, they will be playing in Iceland in December (booking contact: "L'enfant et la Pluie", Kolin, lenfantetlapluie@wanadoo.fr)\\ all gigs are announced and updated on www.angil.fr.fm. \r\nAlex Owl (July 2005) \r\n\"Sardonic yet passionate, clever yet frank. As much Sartre as singer-songwriter this is an interesting, accomplished and enchanting debut.\" (Alex Lawson) \r\nNet Rhythms (June 2005) \r\n\"There's a certain Gallic glacial quality to it all, even when he fires things up for She Said 'What You Doing' He Said 'I Am Leaving' and the jagged Matching Mole jazz Sons of Benedict but perversely it's precisely this sense of casual detachment that helps the album burrow under the skin.\" \r\nTangents (May 2005) (Tangents)\r\n\"Imagine the sound of Broadcast in a Canterbury side street, nodding hello to The Sea and Cake whilst playing Low songs on their personal stereos, and you'd possibly be getting close.\" \r\nSplendid Magazine (November 2004) \r\n\"It's worth your attention. Its best tunes, like the sentimental, flute-led An Old Acquaintance and a stripped-down cover of The Breeders' Invisible Man, mark Angil as a talent who deserves more recognition outside his country's borders.\" \r\nErasing Clouds (March 2005)\r\n\"Enter Angil's palace of contradictions, where the intent is to continually surprise you, while keeping you hooked on the melodies and sentiments. Teaser: For Matter is a compelling and complex album.\" \r\nVice (April 2005) (rated 9/10)\r\n\"Oh boy, you'll be happy to love a record this much!\" \r\nUnpeeled (April 2005)\r\n\"Teaser isn't an easy record, but, it's got me thinking that the problems are mine. For what it's worth, I'd recommend giving this set the time it takes and start with the smashed up, fucked up, road smash horror-beauty of \"She Said...\" It's one we've all been in, so yeah, I love this record.\" \r\nThe Fly (April 2005)\r\n\"Teaser for: matter excels when combining childlike ingenuity with snatches of electronica.\" \r\nRocksound (April 2005)\r\n\"Sounds like Robert Wyatt jamming with cLOUDDEAD and Sparklehorse. Half-angel, half-devil, but totally unique.\" \r\nShakenstir (April 2005) (rated 5/5)\r\n\"The pace and mood of the album are diverse and every single track offers something very special. This is a wonderful, very different folk-pop album and essential listening. Hell, I love this album, and it's certainly one of the year's best releases.\" \r\nLosing Today (April 2005) \r\n\"Absolutely perfect and just what you need for those days as nature throws off its cold cloak and decides to come out to play colouring in the monotone bleakness of Winter. Time for folk to be cool again kids, sometimes class doesn't have to shout and pose to be noticed.\"