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Milking the Hypnotic

Kris De witte

Liquid Dreams: Hooverphonic creates surreal sonicscapes on its new album.

Belgium's Hooverphonic adds passion to electronica on 'Blue Wonder Power Milk' By Gina Arnold
I OFTEN LIKE to review records in my car,
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which is how I became attracted to Hooverphonic's new album, Blue Wonder Power Milk (Epic). Had I heard the record in my home, I might have been misled by its subtlety. This type of music so of ten f ades into the background when heard in one's living room, where there is always something better--not to mention noisier-to do than listen caref ully to music (wash your hair, grind cof f ee beans, play with the dog). Heard in the car, however, Blue Wonder Power Milk immediately proves itself to possess a wonderf ul quality. Indeed, it transf ormed a boring journey along Highway 101 into a secret spy trip into the heart of some f abulous European landscape, and it's hard to think of higher praise than that. At f irst, while listening to this record, I merely f elt like I was in a Lexus commercial, the kind in which a sleek dark car glides across some beautif ul road. But that f eeling in itself is a sort of musical miracle, given that I was driving a 10-yearold Tercel along a particularly traf f icky stretch between the Lawrence Expressway and Oakland Road. Very quickly, however, the record kicks into a f ilm f orm. By the time one is half PDFmyURL.com

way through the opening track, "Battersea"--a strange and evocative number about lost love on which singer Geike Arnaert wails, "It's over, I've got to f orget"--one f inds oneself mentally starring in some exotic f oreign movie that has yet to be made. Hooverphonic is a Belgian band that plays modif ied electronica. Although it relies heavily on samples, synths and "rhythm programming," it also writes song with vocals and lyrics. Stylistically, Hooverphonic blends the smooth montage sound of DJ Shadow with the bachelorpad lounge aesthetic of Esquivel and Herb Alpert f or a sound that's truly tres 1999. New singer Arnaert (who replaces Liesje Sadonius) has the kind of sexy, high, whispery voice that evokes '60s sex kitten Claudine Longet; she does, however, sing in English. Blue Wonder Power Milk is the band's second U.S. release, and it is quite impressive: a hypnotic series of evocative songs f eaturing swelling orchestral strings merged seamlessly with programmed beats and the more old-f ashioned tone values of guitar and vocals. As on the band's f irst LP, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular ,
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Hooverphonic seems conceptually interested in the idea of merging various types of music, including soundtracks, advertising and pop-classical. To this mix of styles, the band adds beats to produce a type of pop that is quite persuasive (not to mention thoroughly modern, since nowadays, one can hardly tell an ad f rom a pop song anyway). A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular was sort of about subverting the ef f ect of advertising on the psyche, but Blue Wonder Power Milk is less explicit. Certain themes emerge here, one of which seems to be damage to the ecosystem. "Tuna" is def initely about environmental poisoning, so perhaps the criminal in this vague story is a corporate polluter. Elsewhere things aren't as clear. "Eden" is a beautif ul song about betrayal. "This Strange Ef f ect" is another moody little keeper. Many songs have scary undercurrents of emotion, but occasionally Hooverphonic just writes a straight-ahead, old-f ashioned, song. On "Magenta," f or instance, Arnaert describes a sad Flemish day: "Longing f or winter-longing f or a cold bike ride through the snow. Summer f lows to the cemetery slow ... pink versus black; black versus magenta--this picture of you just melts in
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my agenda." MEANWHILE, THE SONGS sung by band leader, programmer and guitarist Alex Callier of ten descend into science f iction. (Not surprisingly, Callier is a ref ugee f rom f ilm school in Antwerp, which is currently one of Europe's artsier cities.) There is a strong air of surreality to many of these sonic-scapes, as the title cut indicates. Coincidentally, the title is quite similar to the title of Liz Phair's new record, Whitechocolatespaceegg. But Belgians can be f orgiven f or surreality more easily than Americans can, f or two reasons. For one thing, Ren Magritte--he of the clouds and f loating bowlers--was a Belgian national, so such a gesture on Hooverphonic's part is less pretentious and more traditional. For another, there's a sort of heightened linguistic agility that sometimes occurs when people sing in a second language. Like the Belgian artrock band Deus, Hooverphonic is clearly almost more adept at using English than native English speakers are. I particularly like Callier's plea to a lover: "Won't you be my dictionary? Won't you translate f un into something necessary?" Although Hooverphonic's lyrics intrigue
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Although Hooverphonic's lyrics intrigue and amuse, the band's real strength is musical. The album really represents a triumph of programming expertise, showing as it does that electronica doesn't have to be cold and detached, impassive and alienating: it can be as passionate and inviting as every other type of music.
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From the August 20- 26, 1998 issue of Metro. Copyright

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