Although I missed the concert by Des Esseintes a while back here in the Netherlands, I heard quite some positive feedback on his performance. This made me quite curious about the album I’m reviewing here. The cd comes in a white digipack which is decorated with black and white pornographic pictures, both contemporary as well as some older ones. It’s quite a good idea actually to display a small collage of present-day and old (1940’s??) pornpics, it creates a nice contrast. Erh…
Both Des Esseintes and The Protagonist (his other project) seem to be heavily inspired by Huysmans’ novel ‘A Rebours’ (1884) (and even the name of the label: Fin de Siecle Media…) and perhaps other late 19th century decadent writers (Wilde, Baudelaire). This album is in my stereo for some time now and I must say I really enjoy it. It starts out with ambient sounds with a noisy background, until track 2 bursts into a Converter-like rhythmic industrial piece. Surprisingly good!
The following tracks are all of high quality, and wouldn’t do bad as a soundtrack. Some tracks are atmospheric, others are more harsh, but all have a certain cinematic feeling and sound very well-composed and ‘professional’. The perfect soundtrack to your favourite decadent/Romantic literature!
