Album: Je Suis Animal – Self-Taught Magic From A Book

NN.net on Wednesday, 19.11.2008

Everywhere you look in the world right now, there’s trouble. Ignoring the country’s apparent economic quandary, the music industry bigwigs are also proceeding through a bank-related crisis, resulting in mass musical upheaval. The beauty of such a situation is that as nobody is making any money, we are thus welcomed in to a more open world filled with audible experimentation as no one has anything to lose. People are more able to dabble in the inspirations of days gone past, unhindered by the pressures of the judging eye of the fat cat.

Enter Je Suis Animal; a hybrid of UK-cum-Norwegian musicians, recording an album in some remote woodlands with only bears, gingerbread men and (we imagine) the Northern Lights for company. Music at its simplest, and arguably, its best.

With the monotone bounce of a feminine Morrissey, Je Suis’ lead vocalist Elin Grimstad effortlessly lounges on every track she touches. She provides the finishing on a gathering of instrumentals that any late 80s pop group would be proud of, giving the listener a compilation of guilty pleasures without having to have an actual Echobelly CD in their collection.

Tracks like the delectable ‘Amundsen’ mix the lackadaisical flow of The Breeders with a slightly twisted, leftfield edge that you cannot quite put your finger on. The first single, ‘The Mystery Of Mary Roget’, is situated early on in the set, belding lowly mixed drums and unkempt guitars, hinting at the child like airiness of the album to follow. Despite the whimsy, the underlying mystery that interweaves through the set avoids it sounding too much like the elevator music used in an episode of Charmed.

The result is a completely solid, and deceivingly complex body of work, and for a debut in 2008 – that is no small feat. Stepping only slightly off the tightrope at points, Je Suis Animal continually regain their balance with a sprawling, playful and goddamn catchy longplayer.