Album Reviews

Album Review: Je Suis Animal – Self-Taught Magic From A Book (Angular Recordings)

By | Published on Monday 1 December 2008

Je Suis Animal

Je Suis Animal are a band who have clearly named themselves after the music that they make. Raw, organic and near completely removed from the modern world, they fall somewhere between ‘Treasure’-era Cocteau Twins, Stereolab and a watered down Ida Maria. ‘Self-Taught Magic From A Book’ is the Oslo-based quintet’s debut album and is a ghostly mix of vintage dream pop, 60s psychedelia and abstract, haunting vocals. Recorded in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Norway, ‘Self-Taught Magic’ is a record made from frosted woodlands, old time fairytales and dark magic. The band use a varied pallet of instruments to compliment the standard foundation of muted guitars and drums – recorders, clarinets, omnichords and glockenspiels are added to the mix to create an original, antiqued and esoteric sound that is uniquely their own. Comprised of disconnected, phantasmal songs like the wonderful ‘Indifferent Boy’ and ‘Start The Night’ together with decidedly more twee and accessible (though no less awesome) tracks like the band’s first single ‘The Mystery Of Marie Roget’, ‘Self-Taught Magic From A Book’ is a diverse but nonetheless fluent and inspiring journey through a vast range of magical sounds that Je Suis Animal clearly love creating. An absolutely bewitching debut that deserves every ounce of attention it gets. TW

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