Somewhere above Marseilles, Chris Daly is floating on a cloud of mysterious origin.
Chicken strips and Sriracha. Those two dudes from the Sonic commercials. Finn and Jake. Me and gravity bongs.
In the annals of the 21st Century, the time may well be upon us to add Pétra, the collaborative project between Anenon and Chantal Chadwick, to the list of Great Duos of Our Times. You may remember Anenon, aka Brian Allen Simon, from such educational albums as Inner Hue, Petrol and Tongue, while you might know Chadwick as the musician, dancer and founder of Assortment, an agency that supports artists working in photography, motion and sound (with an independent publishing branch for fine art books, natch).
The dastardly duo are dropping their debut album, Aunis, on Sept. 20 via Injazero Records. The album “incorporates electronic and acoustic instrumentation which draws the listener into dream-like soundscapes and blends ambient sounds, modern composition and abstract vibrations” (removal of Oxford comma mine; seriously don’t get me started). Anenon has cast his past few albums as works descriptive of certain locales. Petrol peered into L.A., and Tongue told tales of Tuscany. I have since learned that Aunis is a historical province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. While this factoid disallowed the plethora of anus jokes I had worked up for this review, now we know, and that’s half the battle right there.
But why take my word for it? Sure, I’ve never led you astray before, and it kind of hurts that you’re questioning our relationship now, but I can dig it, so it is POW’s great honor to premier for you today, “Landes,” the first track to drop to get your juices flowing. Whereas many ambient tracks can come across cold and distant, Pétra makes no such missteps, instead utilizing a warm and welcoming sunny vibe. What’s more, this is far more melodic than most others in the genre, a testament to the collective efforts of the two. I’m not sure you’d ever hear this one on the dance floor, but it will keep your head nodding slightly in the chill out tent, which always is nice.
