Fruit. Nouveau Vélo

Nouveau Vélo (new bicycle) is a band from Laarbeek specialising in indie rock. It's been five years since the previous album, 'Bogland', that received a favourable reception on this blog. Let me be honest, I had all but forgotten about it since then. Five years of silence is a long time.

On Fruit Nouveau Vélo has a new band member, a C86 drum computer. The good news is that it does not affect the band's music in any way. Only when you truly focus on the drum sound you will hear it is slightly synthetic.

What is more important, is that the band  takes you on a trip through the history of modern music. The Stone Roses are honoured in 'Aboard' for example, including a longish outro. That album can be taken as a kind of starting point, as from there 90s bands are honoured, like e.g. Teenage Fanclub.

Fruit is not a happy album. The predominant mood is melancholy. Most songs are serious and reflective, dreamy even. At some point some of the songs remind me of Stefan Breuer's The World of Dust. That is a switch from the more intensive and therefore upbeat 'Bogland'. Because of it the influences of the two bands mentioned in the above paragraph shimmer through the songs, bridging even more decades, once again. The Beatles, R.E.M., West Coast bands, to name a few examples, besides falling in step with several of the colleague indie bands on its label, Excelsior Recordings.

Promo photo

It makes Fruit an album to listen to and far less to party to. Which is totally okay of course. Most music is created to listen to and take the listener away from where he actually is. Fruit will take care of this alright. Nouveau Vélo spins music around my ears to travel along with inside of my head. The clear sounds that jump up in many of the songs make for very pleasant listening. The subdued mood allows for a relaxed trip as well.

With Fruit Nouveau Vélo sets another, interesting step in its career. I only hope that we do not have to wait another five years for the next one.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can order Fruit here:

 https://excelsior-recordings.com/collections/releases/nouveau-velo