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Fulguromatic — Fulguromatic
(Bandcamp aMarxe 0325CD, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-05-29

Fulguromatic Cover art

Fulguromatic is the debut album by the French duo of the same name, and quite an entrance it is, a surprising combination of distinct elements that underscores their musical brilliance and their overt French craziness. The group has been together since 2022, working up the set that you hear in these eight cuts and probably a lot more, a mix of the lighter side of jazz-rock and a sense of humor that comes through in the vocals and the instrumental approach — imagine a collision between Gilgamesh or Hatfield and French bands like Jack Dupon, kind of serious, kind of goofy at times, but in fact they sound like none of the above; a listener can find plenty here within these grooves to enjoy. Paul Cossé plays Fender Rhodes, piano, xylophone, percussion, various flutes, banjoline, and vocals, while Lancelot Rio plays drums, bass synth, piano, synth, guitars, xylophone, bird calls and vocals. I’m scratching my head trying to figure out how they pull this off live – and somehow they do, their website shows some thirty gigs they have played between 2022 and 2024, and probably  more going forward; then I notice on their bandcamp page the word ‘automated’ next to flutes and bass synths, and then realize that automation is the key to making live shows possible. And those bird calls are not a joke, they use them a lot, especially on the tracks “Lil' Appeau” and “An odd Bird's Bill,” and while many of the lyrics are in French, any English speaking person should have no problem appreciating their work, especially given that it’s primarily instrumental anyway. Two of the album’s standout tracks are “The Unconceivable Curse of Atahualpa” where the xylophone and Rhodes both get a great workout, with flutes dancing around an odd-meter groove, and although there’s some whispered voices therewithin, I’m counting it as a full-on instrumental track, and then there is “Top 5 des citations d'Albert Einstein,” which after kind of a strange start finds a totally ripping groove about a minute in, the words are spoken, but the Rhodes and infectious drum/bass groove have Dave Stewart and Pip Pyle written all over it, perhaps with a touch of Kohntarkosz era Magma. Amazing band, amazing album. My only question at this point is how are they going to top this on their second album?

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Fulguromatic

More info
http://amarxe.bandcamp.com/album/fulguromatic

 

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