trojan panda | peau @ loop (cl)

At the end of 2016 Jozef Dumoulin brought together five musicians from the Paris scene consisting in Sophie Bernado on guitar, Léo Duppleix, guitar, Jozef Dumoulin, guitar, Julien Pontvianne on bass and Hugues Mayot on drums, with the idea of combining music post-seventies alternative guitar rock, experimental rock, improvised music and jazz.

In the summer of 2017, they held their first performances, including one of them at the prestigious Jazz Festival Middelheim in Antwerp, Belgium. Then they tended to make improvised pieces and in 2019 they recorded some of them, in addition to recorded live compositions in the Jazz Middelheim and a series of improvised tracks that shaped "Peau".

"Sylvie Coiffure" unveil guitar riffs that remind us of Joy Division which are out of tune, and conjure-up snippets of Echoe and the Bunnymen, among others. "Karolientje in Haar Blootje" in a more experimental vein has jazz shades. "Joie de Vivre" offers a few repetitive chords and guitar experimentation, as if they were pulling them.

"Animal" closes this album with a peaceful track containing random drums and melancholic chords from several guitars.

Trojan Panda performs a rich combination of post-punk and experimentation.

Guillermo Escudero

May 2021