Cheval de frise Share Remastered LP ‘Fresques sur les parois secrètes du crâne’

“Lucarne des combles” is the opening track from Fresques sur les parois secrètes du crâne, the second album by French amplified classical guitar/drums duo Cheval de frise. This striking, enigmatic, baroque masterpiece was recorded at Black Box studio (France) in 2002 and released in CD format on RuminanCe (Paris) in 2003. The album is now being reissued by the New York label Computer Students™ and is being pressed to vinyl and cassette tape for the first time, with the original track list remastered by Carl Saff – order a copy here.

The band comments on the reissue, saying:

“‘Lucarne des combles’ is a great meteorological derangement seen from the attic: a meteoric screech in which each guitar note appears to be a hailstone trembling with intensity, the drums lifted by a counter-rotating harvester hold the storm at gunpoint, and the baroque intervals dilate the entire space under the pestle of hardcore showers. We’ve never had so much trouble seeing out the window.”

This breathtakingly gorgeous reprint comes with almost entirely new artwork and is augmented by a 12-page booklet containing never-before-seen art by Thomas Bonvalet. It will be released worldwide on November 17, 2023.

Evoking the cubist digressions of expert jazz, as well as the paroxysms of flamenco with a nylon guitar flexing its muscles on the anvils of the darkest Metal, Cheval de frise creates a frightened rock‘n’roll, highly aesthetic yet half ugly, with a transfigured ugliness. Transfigured by what? The question remains unanswered. As does almost every other question that repeated listening to Fresques raises.

Cheval de frise ‘Fresques sur les parois secrètes du crâne’ album artwork

Cheval de frise ‘Fresques sur les parois secrètes du crâne’ album artwork – foil