Short Reviews [Anthony Beard - 2021 - "Les Contes De Nulle Part"]

Ni have long been known as one of the most experimental outfits around, but here we find guitarist Anthony Beard sat with an acoustic while Benoit Lecomte recorded the performance. This is so far removed from their normal style that I was actually quite shocked when I realised who had played this lovely four-song instrumental release. At just 20 minutes long it shows a very different side of Beard, one which is far more about beauty and restraint than the over-the-top metallic experimentation I have come to expect with his day job. Apparently at the same time he was writing the music for this he was also working on a separate project of writing a collection of surrealist poetry and each project influenced the other. The album title translates to ‘Tales of Nowhere’, and it is easy to fall inside the melodies being created. There is something special about a single acoustic guitar, here with just a slight sense of reverb, the only studio trickery at hand, and the gentle picking has far more in common with classical music than it does with folk or other more popular forms. It is music which takes the listener on a journey, with plenty of space and no sense of being forced along a road but instead being taken gently by the hand and being guided on the way. It is a beautiful set, with the major issue being that it is way too short, and I hope we hear more from Anthony in this manner in the not too distant future.