Ensemble reviewed
Ensemble
Ensemble
(Fat Cat)
One-man band Olivier Alary sculpts the latest Ensemble disc with help from Lou Barlow and Chan Marshall.
The turns by Barlow and Marshall on “One Kind, One Mind” and “Disown, Delete,” respectively, are entry points for Alary’s vision, which doesn’t always need ways in. Barlow’s aching tenor transplants him back to his solo forays or Folk Implosion, while the real treat is the two minutes of wind noise immediately following (“Unrest”), just as “All We Leave Behind” filters out the lazily jazzed “Disown” into scattered noise before Mileece brings it into the shower with her. The self-titled disc isn’t stolen by its guests, but Alary has more to do with it than he lets on.
— Steve Forstneger
