Album Review - Superbelle

With most groups you can talk about their members, their background and inspiration. With Superbelle that is not an option as they have chosen to remain anonymous for this artistic project called Superbelle. For their live shows they are disguised with appropriate stage lighting. By day Clark Kent, by night Superman or Superbelle. They have come together with a shared love of experimentation on this most interesting of projects. As musicians they are into many other musical forms including improvised jazz, classical and Latin music. With this debut album they have developed their thinking to allow them to use machines as one would use a bouzouki or a guitar. Strip away the electronic component for a moment and at the core of many tracks you have 8 or 16 bars of traditional music on melody instruments such as accordion and fiddle.

Superbelle give the music a broader canvas on which to develop and grow. They fill in the tracks with an array of electronic samples, beats and rhythms, stretching the tunes to their maximum and reverting back to the core melody every now and again. Words alone are insufficient to describe this and the attached audio should give more insight. This track is called Boreen Boredum and is a perfect example of what the album is about. A very catchy melody on fiddle and guitar that progresses in an infectious, repetitive and laid back manner. Musically it is inspired and given a chance the tracks will take hold and start to spin in your head. It will no doubt inspire a new generation of traditional musicians to experiment. The ability to do these projects on relatively low budgets and at the same time produce superior recordings is a mark of the times. Others may follow in their footsteps. Groups like Superbelle are leading us to a point in the future where someone takes the best of this and other experimentation's that are taking place at the moment and creates something of real beauty with commercial appeal. Superbelle may be just leading the way. It's not for those who only follow the pure drop but there is a definite market for it. Put it on your playlist late at night and your party guests will definitely sit up and take heed.

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