The eminently affable Chocolate Fireguard label - based in the hitherto unknown mecca for things creative in music, namely Huddersfield - has unleashed some potent bursts of UK dance and hip hop over the last couple of years, most keenly evidenced by its ‘Interesting Flavours’ compilations. It was here that French hip hop/rap group LA CEDILLE first came to this particular listener’s attention with the track ‘Sous Titre’.
Recorded in Huddersfield LA CEDILLE release their debut album ‘Vu Du Large’ at a time when the political volatility of the French nation has found a microcosm of instability and rivalry within the French hip hop scene. Despite the disturbing rise in recent years of xenophobic right-wing politics France has historically been a positive and catalytic environment for musicians and artists from within and beyond Europe’s shores. My father-in-law’s collection of live jazz recordings by new and prominent black musicians performing in the West Bank bears witness to this proud heritage. In more recent years the more direct influence of World Music – particularly from the former African colonies - and its infusion with the world of rap, hip hop and the old mainstay of jazz has created some interesting musical collages; my first Gallic encounter being the effusive Les Negresses Vertes back in the late eighties.
LA CEDILLE continue this vibrant tradition of ‘mixing it up’ by fleshing out their smooth lyrical rhymes and stammering hip hop beats with a strong jazz inflection provided by a brass section featuring trombone and saxophone. They’re keen to distance themselves from the bitching and back-biting that blights the hip hop scene in France, preferring to create their own distinctive – if you will - ‘age de D.A.I.S.Y’ as demonstrated by the decidedly mellow but positive mood and the laid-back atmosphere that pervades ‘Vu Du Large’.
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Perhaps the key word to describe this album is abstract. There is an open-ended quality to the music that never falters. At times you forget about labels like ‘hip hop’ and ‘jazz’ and just immerse yourself in the luxuriant and cosmopolitan vibe in recognition of the fact that the details within the music will have plenty of time to register after the umpteenth repeated play. Vu Du Large’ is an album that demands to be returned to time and time agin.
Taking in American soul and harmonic Reinhardt guitar licks as well as the broader canvasses of jazz and hip hop are incredibly effective in helping to stoke the embers of the warm mood that heats ‘Vu Du Large’. At times the music is so expansive it has a symphonic montage quality akin to The Cinematic Orchestras’ ‘Motion’. Be warned though, if you’re looking for easy to catch hooks and the instant fix of melodic motifs you’ll be searching in vain as part of the album’s abstract nature and its diverting charm is the subtle but constant changing musical patterns both within and across tracks. Undoubtedly the inherent “Frenchness” of the enterprise is fundamental to the album’s style and character.
Despite the strong jazz leanings (that seems to have a toxic effect to many ears) ‘Vu Du Large’ is welcoming, inclusive, classy and sexy with an elusive but infectious quality best described in LA CEDILLE’S own native tongue as having a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’.
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