A little while ago i had the experience of listening to an incredible work that moved me so much i just had to write about it. I decided on writing a review of this work in the hope others might read my words, buy it, and be as equally moved. The work is from Dani Baquet-Long, also known as Chubby Wolf, or “Chubbs”, and this is her debut solo album entitled L’Histoire, that has been released a little while now on the Gears of Sand label. It should be said that i wrote this review a few days prior to my learning about the tragic loss of Dani, and since then i haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to this album or revisit my review. I feel now that the time has come, where i would like to put on Dani’s album and share this review.

L’HISTOIRE – Chubby Wolf

Chubby Wolf is the solo project of Dani “Chubbs” Baquet-Long and also half of the talented Celer. My being relatively new to both Celer and Chubby Wolf, I am very happy to own her latest album L’Histoire, which has been released recently on the excellent Gears of Sand label. We are told on the inside sleeve that the sounds have all been made with a toy piano, a heart monitor and electronic processing, and it is the electronic processing that seemingly plays the bigger role I feel. I find this album to be the sort, of which there aren’t many, that seems to stay in my CD player for days at a time, never becoming tiresome. It might be expected that a CD full of primarily minimal tone fluctuations and subtleties, might perhaps sound akin to the many other drone releases that circulate, but this is where we would be wrong. In-fact what we have here with Chubby Wolfs L’Histoire, is clear signs to the beginnings of an incredibly talented artist.

There is obviously a point in any artist’s creative output where they will deliver their most impressive and interesting works, the works that stand out and stand the test of time. For me this point is often found and enjoyed when there is far less noticeable tampering evident from the artist themselves, and more an experience that lets the listener marvel at the simplicity of the work and perhaps only slightly ponder on its creation. This simplicity is what makes the work all the more admirable, and not then just proving to be minimal for minimal sake. This understanding of knowing when to step back and let sounds do their own thing, is something I’ve felt has been achieved with other releases from some incredible artists, most notably Sawako with her ‘Yours Gray’ album. Although I don’t want confuse L’Historie as similar in sound to Yours Gray, it does share itself as a sort of emotional journey, and therefore L’Historie is one journey I feel can be taken over and over again. L’Historie puts the listener into a place of pulses, tones and shifts involving the listener and not just simply playing to the listener. Chubby Wolf seems to work with amplification and intensity throughout the album, and often I feel the need to reach for the volume dial to adjust my listening experience. It is this physical and emotional reaction that in part makes it stand out from the many.

The first track entitled ‘The Weak Version’ fades into the room in a way that is slightly unsettling, and this prolonged fading can be heard again at its end, trailing away ever so uneasily. It is this unease that is evident throughout the whole album and Chubby Wolf does well to balance this emotion to the greatest effect. ‘Toy Piano Underwater’ is a shimmering and haunting track that I am always sad to hear end, not that it’s short, but due more to the feeling of time being almost forgotten, all before being awoke to the energy of the next track ‘Anti-body Library’. I am not sure what I enjoy so much about this track, maybe it’s the sheer force or the subtle changes that can be heard for those who listen hard past its energy. While other tracks on the album seem to tickle at the emotions, this one certainly doesn’t leave any room for doubt. It is then we begin my favorite part of the albums journey with tracks ‘Oh, And How It Was Stunning: Writhing’, ‘Unnerved Rain’ and ‘Inverted Windows’. It is these tracks in particular that play with our sense of depth and space with their distant melodic drones, that immerse us and emphasize again the building character evident in this album. ‘Feigned Indifference’ is a short collection of higher frequency tones that sound so clean and serve as a perfect break in the album, this is before quickly venturing back into the seemingly lost or distant forgotten tones that can be found in ‘Lay The Voice To Rest, Dear Mist’, a truly incredible work. ‘Blind Studies of the éclat’ is the perfect short track filled with frayed noise like textures that still hold a strong sense of distance or lost emotion. ‘Perceptual Constancy Of Ripples’ is similar in some ways to ‘Lay The Voice To Rest, Dear Mist’ yet different in ways that the title might suggest, as it begins to show how very strikingly perfect each title matches the feeling of each track on this album. This leads me to the last track on L’Historie and possibly my favorite all for one small characteristic, and that is its own ending. It is this ending on ‘You, My Luminary’, that serves as a comfortable release from this enjoyable wandering and lost feeling the album creates, and also reiterates that we have indeed been inside another space, be that of Chubby Wolfs own creative mind or perhaps something else that can’t be so easily defined.

L’Histoire leaves me wanting to listen to it over and over, and yet ever so slightly scares me, for the want to preserve and hold tight to the feeling it gives me. L’Histoire is a truly remarkable album that perfectly balances emotions with minimal sound, proving to be an intelligent piece of work and one that will surely be highly sort after in years to come.

Reviewed by moize.net