Arnaud Bukwald - 2024 - Moondragore
(33:29; Arnaud Bukwald)
Over the years Arnaud has released albums under his own name and under the bandname Moon Dragore, and here he combines both with his latest album which also includes Gong co-founder Didier Malherbe. Arnaud provides vocals, guitar, weissenborn, sitar, keyboards, Didier suling, flute, bawu, ocarina and the line-up is completed by Cherry Pob with vocals, bongos, frame drum, tongue drum and drummer Cloudy Myster. The result is something which truly stands out among the dross of the modern world as Arnaud has taken his influences from world folk and then brought it to life with musicians who truly understand the vision. Didier is in his eighties now, but still as vibrant and important as he was when he was playing on classics like ‘Camembert Electrique’, ‘Flying Teapot’ and ‘Angel’s Egg’ and there are times when he and Arnaud combine to create music which is refusing to be bound by any boundaries or preconceived ideas and the listener can just revel in what is going on between their ears.
However, it is not all ethnic, and Arnaud is happy to allow Cherry Pob to provide her vocals on songs like “Looking Across” where he strums acoustic guitar on material which is far more Americana, but then he follows that with a guitar workout which is different yet again. This really does feel like a journey of discovery switching through different origins so one never knows what is going to come next, just that it will be enjoyed. It is an album which moves all over the place, but whereas many releases that attempt this simply fall by the wayside, here there is mastery at play, so we enjoy the myriad explorations and opposed to be confused by it. It is majestic and vibrant, powerful and passionate, thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.
Kev Rowland, May 2025
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