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Sidony Box: Pink Paradise

By Dan McClenaghan
November 20, 2011
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Pink Paradise, by the French power trio Sidony Box, may sport the pinkest cover art since vibraphonist

Bobby Hutcherson

vibraphone
1941 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Hutcherson's Happenings (Blue Note, 1966). The music, though, couldn't be more different. Hutcherson put together a bop quartet with pianist

" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Hancock to craft a mellow and meditative sound. Sidony Box wails with a guitar, sax and drums trio, bursting with urgency—a blazing and obstreperous crew.

Even when the band drifts, as it does on the opening "Last Star," it does so with a certain intensity, conjuring images of a waning star emitting a cold, radiant electronic wave, on a drift through deep space, and announcing that Sidony Box is a conglomerate with an oddly metallic synchronicity. Many groups are praised for an organic approach; Sidony Box can be noted, in a positive light, for an inorganic sound.

Elie Dalibert

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Elie Dalibert 's alto sax echoes against

Manuel Adnot

" data-original-title="" title="">Manuel Adnot 's reverberating electric guitar—metal on metal—enmeshed in

Arthur Narcy

" data-original-title="" title="">Arthur Narcy 's roiling, and rumbling drums.

"Tatooine" meanders with in an industrial ambiance before hitting a groove and cranking up to the high heat cooking level, flames blazing blue and threatening to burst out of control. The "TMNT," has a thrashing heavy metal rock feel, with doom just around the corner, while the title tune, on this set of all Sidony Box originals, takes the music into surreal, pastoral territory, a tune with a hopeful mood that leads into "Suedois," a tumultuous six minutes of heavy beats and squalling guitar and saxophone.

Sidony Box boasts a style that melds jazz, pop and hard, in-your-face rock, with unfettered electronics supplied by Adnot. The trio demonstrates plugged-in muscularity on "Wilson," shifting into a spare and eerie ambiance on "Leman" before closing out with hauntingly beautiful "Ultimate Pop Song."

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Track Listing

Last Star; Tatooine; TMNT; Pink Paradise; Suedois; Wilson; Leman; Ultimate Pop Song.

Personnel

Elie Dalibert: alto saxophone; Manuel Adnot: guitar; Arthur Narchy: drums.

Album information

Title: Pink Paradise | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Naive

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