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It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven -an imperial suite (Poe, 1842). Alice Dourlen, who performs as Chicaloyoh, follows her 2013 debut LP, Folie Sacre (SHELTER 030 LP), with Les Septs Salons, a condensed document of an 18-month non-stop globetrotting tour. Melding experimental and Eastern sounds with a strong theatrical aesthetic, Les Sept Salons is also the recording of a smooth transition between two languages, as Dourlen returns to French, her native tongue, on half of the record. Contemporary bridges are built here between psychedelic sounds and horror movie soundtracks, between some modern incarnations of Nico and Catherine Ribeiro. Built in two very distinctive parts, Les Sept Salons was recorded in summer 2014 in Dourlen's very own by-the-sea recording studio Chaudelande (Normandy). The first track, The Sound of his Tenderness, recalls some of the deepest moments of women-in-horror, such as The Cremator (1969) or The Third Part of the Night (1971). Chicaloyoh's driven herself to a new galaxy of vocal explorations for a ten-minute opening track, and The Sound of his Tenderness is for sure the most epic and complex piece of music she's ever composed. Jeune Fille and Prosternation Interieure - the second and final movements, respectively - form a twofold song. Their long-awaited lyrics in French, in the realm of French poet Joe Bousquet or painter Balthus, arrive alongside a new way of recording. Using the text as a crucial starting point in the composition process, Chicaloyoh finds a new world to dig in, of which this diptych sounds like a very promising first hint. The votive offering on the cover, a beautiful answer to Chicaloyoh's music, was made by the Paris-based photographer Camille Vivier, featuring one of her unique female forms in wax. Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, L
