Un Festín Sagital & Armchair Migraine Journey | 2015 | Habitando la Fisura

Avant-Folk | Drone Doom

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Michel Leroy (guitars, piano, effect, vocals), Alisa Slimani (guitar, vocals) and Armchair Migraine Journey (synthesizer, theremin)

After the amazing Kosmodynamos, Un Festín Sagital's neverending evolution does not stop. Habitando la Fisura, the result of a collaboration with Armchair Migraine Journey, shows a sonic progression that although preserves the avant-folk character of Kosmodynamos, adds new elements to the band's sound, some of them for the first time in their discography.
"Habitando la Fisura / Urgencia Pediátrica III", the first half of the album, summons Michel Leroy's work in Médula, combining the aforementioned avant-folk component with noise and drone. However, it distances from that album as it has a greater monumentality and a theatrical intensity that is obvious from the beginning (Médula is, undoubtedly, a more introspective LP). Without leaving UFS' own spirit behind, the second section of this song approaches drone doom decidedly, evoking Nadja's sound, but it is gradually deconstructed, giving shape to a more dismal, oppresive atmosphere.
On the other hand, "Eros III (A Nuestros Padres y Amig@s)" builds a more explorative piece, that develops a soundscape through more subtle, delicate brushstrokes. Accordingly, the band relies on a language closer to ambient, in which Leroy's piano work stands out (especially towards the end of the song) in its contrast with AMJ's more ethereal and abstract synthesized basis.
Even though it is a record with just two tracks, Habitando la Fisura is an album with a striking and captivating eclecticism. Un Festín Sagital's sonic journeys seem to always hit the mark, and this release is not an exception. —IMF

Thanatoloop | 2014 | Médula

Noise | Drone | Avant-Folk

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Michel Leroy (guitar, effects, tapes and feedbacks)

Médula is, undoubtedly, one of the best noise records that I've listened to. Michel Leroy's formula is far from being an amorphous noise experiment without nuances, which seems to be the rule in a genre that, like all of them, has been hackneyed by imitation. On the contrary: although there is time for noisy sonic meanderings, these only serve to the purpose of building passages that, while not oppressive, reach a deep density that subtly gives shape to an indescribably beautiful album, perfectly provided of short guitar sections that give Médula an avant-folk spirit that nourishes its sound with something that most noise albums lack: soul. Each one of the tracks of this record is full of humanness and depth, without giving in to wanton noise or, even worse, to experimental bragging. Conversely, Médula is an honest album, whose sonic language is the reflection of a quest for, precisely, that honesty that is so necessary for a genuine existential expression. Wonderful album. —IMF