Xingie 12″

Bon Voyage is an ever-shifting constellation of musicians led by Paris-based producer and bass player Adrien Durand. Durand was first spotted in 2009 by Jamal Moss, boss of renowned Chicago label Mathematics Recordings, which released Durand’s solo effort (Impersonnel Naviguant) under the moniker Les Aéroplanes. That first record, done using a very academic house music setup consisting of an eight-track cassette recorder, a drum machine, a cheap analog synthesiser and an even cheaper sampler, caught the attention of such DJ’s as Beautiful Swimmer and Toby Tobias. For his Bon Voyage project, Durand recruited drummer Nicolas Ballay and keyboard player/engineer Maxime Kosinetz. While opening for legendary Italian DJ Daniele Baldelli, the band caught the attention of Chicken Lips’s Steve Kotey, who released Bon Voyage’s first two records (Sorciers des Aéroports, L’Imposture) on STENDEC, a new imprint created for the occasion.”Bon Voyage is basically my way of learning how to work in the studios in a late-70s / early-80s setup – and on a 2010 budget,” Durand explains. “I guess my liking of old studios can be compared to the way some people like old cars. A vintage car looks good but nothing beats knowing how to drive one. Recording a good rhythm track requires sometimes so much more than finding the right sample, both in terms of technical knowhow and musicianship. Most of the time it comes down to managing human resources.”

For Xingye, Bon Voyage grew with the addition of a guitarist, a flute player and assorted vocalists including Chinese pop star LiLijuan. The band moved beyond the space synth sound for which they had become known to a more hybrid and complex blend of musical influences. While maintaining their trademark mutant disco vibe against a backdrop of aeronautic imagery, Bon Voyage’s latest EP manages to evoke some other thematic obsessions dear to Adrien Durand, and invites you to a bizarre tropical journey. “La Traversée” brings us into a futuristic version of Deng Xiao Ping’s China because, as Durand suggests, “Deng Xiao Ping is to Mao Tse Tung’s China what Phil Collins is to Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, no?”. From life during wartime (“Shenzhen V”) to pulp detective novels (“La Piste Chinoise’), Xingye combines disco-funk rhythmic pathos with some heavy sound-painting techniques made possible by Durand’s synthesiser and tape collage wizardry. When asked about the album’s highly cinematic tonal colours, Durand prefers to recycle Frank Zappa’s explanation of his own 1969 LP, Uncle Meat, calling Xingye “Music for a film we haven’t got enough money to finish yet.” And not just any film. Think of a cross between Ridley’s Scott Blade Runner and an imaginary remake of The Last King of Scotland shot by John Carpenter.

As on the two preceding records, Bon Voyage was joined in the studio by Florian Lagatta, the French sound engineer who received Grammy awards for his work with Daft Punk and Beck.