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Switched On – Ocoeur: Breath (n5MD)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Breath is the ambitious new album from Ocoeur, aka Franck Zaragoza, the Bordeaux-based producer. On this record Zaragoza looks to reawaken an appreciation for the world around us, and connect with the landscapes that are for most of us within easy reach.

As well as looking at elemental connections, Breath is a call for peace in troubled times.

What’s the music like?

This is an album that works on two levels. On one hand there is a blissful ambience running throughout Breath, meaning it is easy to connect with especially at either end of the day. Yet listening closely is even more rewarding, with Zaragoza’s clever internal workings revealed as tightly knit melodic loops spread their wonders far and wide.

The album grows from small beginnings to reach an early apex with Life, which has real gravitas and orchestral dimensions. The music repairs for the softer piano musings of To Love, Ocoeur exploring deep and primitive emotions, before Calling For Peace makes an understated impact. Here a steady drum tread proves immediately reassuring, pairing up with a rather beautiful chime-like figure.

Everything Moves, as its title suggests, is more active, the music dancing like ripples on a lake, before the coda Our Home finds a softly-voiced calm.

Does it all work?

It does, beautifully. Best heard in one sitting, Breath is a work that may be mostly electronic but could easily transpose for full orchestra.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. This is an album of poise and presence, one of a minimalist beauty but with emotional heft, too. With his Ocoeur pseudonym, Franck Zaragoza is creating a deeply impressive body of work.

For fans of… Harold Budd, Gas, Howard Skempton, Biosphere

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Published post no.2,348 – Thursday 31 October 2024

Switched On – Ocoeur: Everything (n5MD)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Franck Zaragoza’s sixth album as Ocoeur comes with a plea. It is about getting people to restore their communication to a more direct level of humanity, rather than spending all the time gazing at devices, heads down.

With a wish that we engage with ‘Everything’ around us, Zaragoza gets to work on a broad, ambient canvas, producing an album of six rather beautiful tracks. The one-word titles speak of the simplicity he is searching for in his music.

What’s the music like?

Everything is a beauty. With it Zaragoza manages to suspend conventional feelings of time. Setting out its scope with the Jean Michel Jarre leanings of Ascent, laden with melancholy, it presents a simple, tonal musical language that evolves beautifully.

The title track introduces a kick drum as punctuation, though the appearance of any drums is relatively rare. Current has icy percussion around the edges as it unwraps a chilly, watery scene. Glow also uses shards of rhythm to accompany its luminous keyboards, unfolding at a natural pace.

It is however the closing pair of Dawn and Dusk that leave a lasting mark. At 20 minutes between them, they have an easy, natural progression across space and time in direct opposition to the busy digital environments around us. There is very little to anchor either production to the ground, but the floated motifs work really well.

Does it all work?

Yes. The softly reflective nature of this music makes it ideal for either end of the day, and Ocoeur’s slow yet measured progressions take place through sounds the listener can dive into.

Is it recommended?

Wholeheartedly. Its sentiment is spot on, but so is the feeling you get after 40 minutes spent in Ocoeur’s company. A cleansing and subtly uplifting experience.

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Everything is released on Friday February 28 on n5MD