Thierry ZABOÏTZEFF - Dr. Zab & His Robotic Strings Orchestra (1992)
By NANAR on 7 February 2024
ART ZOYD has released three albums (Les Espaces Inquiets, Le Mariage Du Ciel Et De L'Enfer and Berlin) on Cryonic Inc. and one (Nosferatu) on the German label Ear-Rational. Mantra released the two compilations of the first albums, but did not release any of the band's original albums. With the exception, in 1992, of Thierry ZABOÏTZEFF's second solo album. This was a collection of twenty-three pieces ranging in length from one to seven minutes, very similar to what Thierry was proposing with ART ZOYD, particularly with the Marathonnerre project (1992), so much so that one wonders whether some of Dr. Zab's pieces were not performed during the performances of Serge Noyelle's theatrical work, or on the contrary whether they were pieces composed at the same time but left out of the project or were simply too personal. Given the eclecticism of the result, I'd say it's a bit of all that. The same questions can be asked of Procession, Patricia Dallio's first solo album, released the same year.
The fact remains that this is a quality album. The limpid electronics serve up light, ingenious compositions, with samples, in particular modified vocals, as was common with ART ZOYD at the time. We find samples of Pygmy chants and even the saxophone of André Mergenthaler, who has since left the band, sampled on "City" and "Childrens Corner". Other sound elements are reused, but in no way detract from the whole, and ensure continuity with ART ZOYD's work.
The numerous compositions, some of them quite different, sometimes cross-fade into each other, which gives the music a very cinematic feel, even if it has no specific theme. I particularly like the rhythmic numbers "Circus", "Chant Profane", "Overlap Processing", which are almost jazz in places, and the more sedate "Séduction", "L'Envol", "Li Quinzaho", "Pavane (EB 108)". "Le Temps Qu'Il Fait" and its extension "Le Retour" are sympathetically reminiscent of the lighter passages on Marathonnerre, such as "Konzo Bélé". The major pieces on this album are also the longest, the ones that develop the melodies the most. The title track takes a while to get off the ground but unfolds a beautiful theme, enriched by a canon and counterpoint. "Childrens Corner" is a superb, serene composition, with the kind of faux-pop that Thierry ZABOÏTZEFF loves to weave. Of course, it's impossible not to listen to "Migration II", which comes as an introduction and expands on the last theme of "Migrations", from Les Espaces Inquiets (1983), in a more eventful and, I must say, highly delectable way.
Dr. Zab & His Robotic Strings Orchestra largely prefigures Thierry ZABOÏTZEFF's subsequent solo albums, in the succession of heterogeneous pieces with a predominantly electronic feel. Neither a simple recreation nor a crisis of ego, this album, which was hard to find for a long time before its recent digital reissue, is not to be overlooked and is a very good complement to the ART ZOYD albums. The arrangements, though synthetic, have aged relatively well. Without turning the world upside down, this is a beautiful album with some powerful moments. And the cover art is gorgeous.
3 ½ out of 5
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