Name: Eidetic
Brand: Benoit Pioulard

Bonus disc

Catalogue number

MM198CD

Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-03-10

Signed copies

Supplier GB

Shellshock

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

880918819822

Total Cap

MM198LP

880918819815

Artist

Benoit Pioulard

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Morr Music

Morr Music is a Berlin-based label run by Thomas Morr. With the LabelCode LC10387, it has established itself as a prominent player in the music industry. Known for its innovative and diverse roster of artists, Morr Music continues to push boundaries and deliver exceptional music to its audience.

Since its inception, Morr Music has been at the forefront of electronic and indie music scenes, releasing groundbreaking albums that have garnered critical acclaim worldwide. The label's commitment to quality and artistic integrity is evident in every release, making it a trusted source for music enthusiasts looking for something unique and captivating.

With an impressive catalog spanning various genres including electronica, pop, folktronica, and more, Morr Music offers a rich musical experience that appeals to a wide range of listeners. From *The Notwist* to *Lali Puna*, from *Múm* to *Seabear*, their talented roster of artists never fails to captivate with their distinctive soundscapes and heartfelt lyrics.

American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography -- taken in Michigan's Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and muse on existence« -- the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he's come to know. Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride. Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice -- and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present -- his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix -- a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper -- ever-observant and actively processing. To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential. Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness. Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020. At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories -- many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding -- through the prism of his poetry makes Eidetic« even more rewarding.

Eidetic

Music GB