trojan panda | peau @ the sound projector (uk)

Now here’s some tasty avant-rock guitar noise, played by the group Trojan Panda on their album Peau (CARTON RECORDS CROIX-CROIX 14). Some fine French players are here (all working in Paris I believe), under the aegis of Jozef Dumoulin who came up with the idea. Dumoulin harbours a taste for “post-seventies alternative guitar rock”, which might mean anything from Sonic Youth to Mudhoney, but he also liked the idea of musicians playing instruments which they didn’t train on, and this change-’em-up strategy is the basis of the Trojan Panda project. Julien Pontvianne and Hugues Mayot are both saxophonists / woodwind players, but here they are relegated to bass and drums respectively, while the conceptual minimalist electronic composer Léo Dupleix and the classical bassoonist Sophie Bernado are wielding electric guitars, along with the “Mr Instigator” JD and his axe.

The players might thus be cast out of their respective comfort zones, but this hasn’t hurt the music one iota; on the contrary, the quintet turn in a very credible set of dour, discordant and angsty strumming-mental exercises full of sullen anti-social moodswings, creating edgy music that will please fans of The Shaggs as well as The Stooges by way of The Dead C, plus there’s none of that pernicious Glenn Branca influence in the form of “clever” tunings or metal rods inserted into the neck. Trojan Panda – not a great name, but the idea is that they’re smuggling in cultural contraband in the guise of a cuddly toy – have been working at this since 2017, so some of their first-ever recorded efforts are here (captured live at a Jazz Festival), along with more recent recordings from 2019. The overall aim is free improvisation in the form of guitar instrumentals, allowing some composed elements in the mix too. Previous Jozef Dumoulin projects have failed to connect with this listener, but this one appeals on a gut level, and one can adjudge the experiment as a success. Fave cuts: ‘Black Madonna’, ‘Mythoman’, and ‘Sylvia Coiffure’, all reeking of fine tension. (24/03/2021)