Fille Qui Mousseの一員としても異彩を放った打楽器奏者が、1980年代フランスのDIY精神の中で結実させた、シンセ・ポップと実験的フォークが溶け合うカルト的名盤が初のヴァイナル復刻✓

1986年に産声を上げたL'Empire Des Sonsは、フランスの地下シーンから届けられた、あまりに早すぎた音の記録だ。DagonやFille Qui Mousseといった先鋭的なグループで活動した打楽器奏者Dominique Lentinと、ヴォーカルのBipé Redonが、舞台芸術プロジェクトでの出会いを機に結成。Bipéが紡ぐシュールで断片的な詞の世界観に合わせ、Dominiqueがパーカッションやマリンバ、シンセサイザーを即興的に構築し、唯一無二の音響世界を作り上げた。

シアトリカルな演出と、宅録的な親密さが同居するそのサウンドは、まるで空想の世界から届いた音の絵葉書のようだ。民族楽器的な響きとチープな電子音が鮮やかに溶け合い、時代やジャンルを超越した魅力を放つ。オリジナル・テープからのリマスタリングを経て、緻密な音の重なりがより立体的かつ鮮烈に再現された。長年コレクターの間で「失われた秘宝」として語り継がれてきた、フランス地下芸術の真髄を堪能できる貴重な一枚◎

A1. Venise
A2. Mais Où Est Donc Ornicar?
A3. Antilope
A4. Celles De La Haute Mer
A5. Opium
B1. Voyage Autour De Ma Tête
B2. Le Trapéziste
B3. Moitié Panthère
B4. L'Année De La Comète
B5. Quand Nos Pères Étaient Des Poissons

An elusive cult gem resurfaces through Glossy Mistakes. Originally released in 1986, L'Empire Des Sons is an otherworldly blend of synth pop, folk experimentation, and cinematic percussive layers-dreamlike, poetic, and wildly ahead of its time.
L'Empire Des Sons was a fleeting yet powerful transmission from the fringes of the French underground-an album that blurred genre lines and evaded easy classification. Fusing experimental folk, lo-fi synth pop, and avant-garde textures, the record exists in its own sonic universe: poetic, layered, and fiercely independent.
Formed in Saint-Étienne by percussionist and composer Dominique Lentin (Dagon, Fille Qui Mousse) and first-time vocalist Bipé Redon, L'Empire Des Sons emerged from the vibrant DIY spirit of the early 1980s. Their paths crossed during the interdisciplinary project L'Opéra Quotidien, and what followed was an intuitive, deeply collaborative process. "I would bring in lyrics and my voice," Bipé recalled, "and Dominique would shape the music around the atmosphere or rhythm suggested by the words."
The result is a collection of songs that feel both meticulously constructed and completely free. Ethnic percussion, marimbas, xylophones, and synthesizers dance around Bipé's surreal, fragmented lyrics-little sonic postcards from imagined worlds. There's a theatricality here, but it never feels forced; rather, it's playful, intimate, and raw.
Despite their inventiveness, L'Empire Des Sons remained a well-kept secret-circulating only in select avant-garde circles and eventually becoming an extremely sought-after collector's item.
Now, thanks to Glossy Mistakes, this lost artifact returns to the world with new life: remastered from the original tapes, pressed on vinyl for the first time with extended liner notes.
L'Empire Des Sons was never meant to be boxed in. Like the quote from Brian Eno that opens their liner notes-"For the world to be interesting, you have to be manipulating it all the time"-their music resists stasis. It evolves, shifts, surprises. And now, it finally gets the audience it always deserved.