Alice – L’Oiseau Magnifique (2023) Their description on their Bandcamp & Instagram pages: “Alice is a 3-person low-fi choir. Accompanied by a low-end synthesizer and limited virtuosity, Alice has the audacity to be chou and talk about the meaning of life in front of everyone.” They can also be found on Soundcloud. I don’t know if it’s the same team (but I don’t think so) that recorded the Baisers Allumettes album or if it’s a different Alice.

Impossible to get my hands on this album, so very difficult to know, because it’s not easy to find information on it. Ah… wait!!! No, I just found this: “After a first cassette release with Ripopée, the Genevan trio returns with L’Oiseau Magnifique, a playful and poignant blend of complex harmony and narrative lyricism. Armed with a second-hand synth, a bizarre mind and a striking voice, Alice’s all-female, intergenerational micro-choir release a mammoth 23-track album.”So… we have our answer! At the start of the album, I thought “What’s this???”Then I thought, “No, this isn’t going to do it! I’m not going to be able to listen to an album like this all the way through…”And yet! Halfway through, I began to fall under its spell. And as soon as the album was finished… I listened to it a second time!

And that’s it.I can’t give this album top marks, because I can’t put it in the same league as the best albums by legendary bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Cure, The Smiths, Bat For Lashes, Florence + the Machine, Franz Ferdinand, Keane and so on. I don’t think there’s much more to say. Great melodies, big laughs, authenticity, beautiful harmonies, lyrics that are sometimes profound, sometimes disturbing (e.g.: the baby) and a wicked sense of humor. Alice really doesn’t mess around. And it proves that there are still good Swiss bands out there who, alas, are struggling to make a name for themselves worldwide. But, who knows, maybe that’s not their primary goal.

My Rating

Rating: 4 out of 5.