Corpo-Mente – Corpo-Mente (Review)

Corpo-Mente are from France and this is their début album.

Now this is something a bit different, a bit special.

This is exotic, sensual music that combines Dark Rock, Trip-Hop and Electro Avant-Garde.

This is powerful stuff that grips from the start with its highly individualistic sound.

The songs seem to slip and slide through the musical landscape and they seem to pulse with a deeply vibrant internal heat. The way the album moves through the running time is almost carnal in nature.

The vocals are operatic in nature and yet somehow still manage to remain intimate and personal. The singer has a strong voice and is extremely talented at what she does. She injects personality and charismatic inflection into the singing which results in the music avoiding the trap of rather faceless, impersonal operatic vocals that some bands who employ them can sometimes fall into.

The music is multi-textural and richly evocative of sumptuous soundscapes. It’s also filled with haunting melodies and quite beautiful compositions. There is a definite darkness here, sometimes quite menacing in tone.

With enough “hair-standing-on-end” moments to stop anyone in their tracks, this is a must. What a highly accomplished collection of songs!

If you like bands like Ulver, Lethe, Manes, etc. then this is a definite highlight to be seized.

A surprise and a pleasure; Corpo-Mente have made a firm fan here.