Apparently feeling that they had taken their initial concept -- one guitarist, playing one guitar sent simultaneously through four different combos of pedals and amps, and one drummer with an aggressive, prog-influenced style -- as far as it could go on their previous albums, French duo
Chevreuil open things up just a bit on Capoeira. Keyboards and samples make a subtle appearance, courtesy of
Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, who even adds a distant, atmospheric vocal to the last track, "Solier Superieur." Also, guitarist Tony C. introduces a new wrinkle to the band's sound, la guitare magnetique, which turns out to be not so new. Working on pretty much exactly the same principle as the Gizmo, the device that
Lol Creme and
Kevin Godley introduced on their epic three-LP set Consequences back in 1977, this is a method of generating and manipulating sustain to create ghostly drones, which the multi-amp set-up then further devolves so that most of the album consists of waves of pure indeterminate sound that mesh with Julien F.'s forceful drumming rather than simply floating above it.
Steve Albini's live-in-the-room production, as always, gives the album an immediacy most similar experimental rock efforts lack. However, for all the subtle changes in
Chevreuil's sound, their songwriting and improv methods remain basically the same, and anyone left cold by the duo's earlier records will likely remain unmoved by Capoeira. ~ Stewart Mason