La Prochaine Fois

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It is not typical for musicians to include short films with their music. Hell, these days it's not even typical for 'musicians' to be musicians, much less be musicians and filmmakers. Enter the not-so-typical Neotropic, aka Riz Maslen, and her latest musical mélange 'La Prochaine Fois.' 'La Prochaine Fois' is Neotropic's third full-length release, and includes an audio CD and a CD-Rom of Maslen's short film by the same name. The movie, shot entirely on Super 8, is structure-less, plot-less, and wholly comprised of washed out city images. It is unfortunate that the video is so small and would have been wonderful as a DVD. The liner notes describe the film as an 'ambient road movie,' which also serves as an effective description of the music. Close your eyes and Maslen's music bleeds phantom images of haunted city streets and ethereal travelers.

Neotropic's music is built upon a firm foundation of folk elements such as acoustic guitars, flutes, string arrangements, and layered voices. Along with the traditional elements are city samples, haunting drones, and eclectic song structures, all of which are woven together into the alien patchwork that is Maslen's signature sound. Though a compelling release, 'La Prochaine Fois' doesn't achieve its full intensity until track 7 'Closer to the Sun,' a wonderfully washed-out downtempo tune featuring hypnotic flutes and looped strings. 'In Reverse Order' follows, utilizing a frantic string arrangement (written by Paul Jason Fredericks) to create an atmosphere of unease and tension. The strings, guitar loops, ethereal vocals, and found sounds persist, finally arriving to an eerie folk-vocal and piano climax on 'micro-cosmic.' The closing track 'Memories,' which Ninja Tuners may recognize from the 'Zen Cuts' box, is a superb but slightly out of place rap tune featuring the voice of rapper Shorti.

'La Prochaine Fois' takes many atmospheric turns and can be ambient, melodic, industrial, and generally unsettling at times. It is haunted folk music; folk that died and has returned from the underworld to aimlessly wander city streets, CD players, and computer screens around the world.