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Sopa Boba — That Moment
(Bandcamp Sub Rosa , 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-04-03

That Moment Cover art

In my 35 or so years reviewing recordings, you can bet I’ve come across some pretty strange albums, quite a few in fact, but this one ranks among the strangest. Sopa Boba is a Belgian / Dutch ensemble led by G.W. Sok (from The Ex and Oiseaux-Tempête, on spoken vocals), Pavel Tchikov (Ogives, on modular synths), and Jean Vangebeergen (playwright), together with the participation of a neo-classical string quartet (Roxane Leuridan and Maritsa Ney on violins, Marie Ghitta on viola, and Ian-Elfinn Rosiu on cello). That Moment is an adaptation of a story by Moldavian writer Nicoleta Esinencu, which begins with a boy asking his father where money comes from, his answer that it grows on trees prompts the boy to steal money from his father’s pocket when he is drunk, to plant in the garden, which in turn prompts the father to cuts the boy’s finger off with an axe as punishment for stealing — and the story continues on from there. The seven tracks are all variations of the album title: “That Sweet Moment,” “That Beautiful Moment,” “That Epic Moment,” etc. The backing music to the spoken story is mainly delivered by Tchikov via brutal and aggressive modular synth and seemingly primitive electronic sounds, providing the primary rhythms, grooves, and textures, while the string quartet kicks in regularly whenever some melody and dramatic intensification is required by the story, over its nearly 55 minutes, which seems to provide an ongoing bitter commentary on an unchecked capitalistic society and government corruption therewithin, though the story approaches the ridiculous at times. That said, there are plenty of stretches where the synths and strings carry on in extended instrumental breaks that are at once very impressive and unique. The seven chapters constitute a most interesting concept that of course doesn’t end well for the protagonist — both parents have died and he seems to be in a state of materialistic confusion, but it is what it is. Like I said earlier, this one is really unusual, like nothing I’ve ever heard before, and may never hear again.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Sopa Boba

More info
http://sopaboba.bandcamp.com/album/that-moment

 

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