Revenir, the album we’re going to talk about today, is a reunion between two old friends. On one side we find Krishna Goineau, who will forever be the voice of “Los Niños del Parque,” the classic he recorded with his group Liaisons Dangereuses. In the late seventies, he lived in Barcelona where he formed, together with Javier Hernando, Xeerox, one of the bands born thanks to the freedom that industrial music offered. He would later go to live in Düsseldorf and become part of the legendary trio with Beate Bartel and Chrislo Haas, but he kept collaborating with Spanish musicians such as Jordi Guber, with whom he recorded that Velodrome single that was so widely danced to at the time. The two musicians would go on to have very different careers, one marked by that early success and the other by consistency. A few years ago, in 2023, they reunited for this project, which, after a search for a label, is now being released by the legendary Klanggalerie. The twelve tracks that make up Revenir have been released on CD with mastering by Martin Bowes, the mind behind the legendary Attrition. The lovely cover was created from drawings by Krishna Goineau.
Both artists are in a sweet spot right now: this year Javier released an interesting and daring album together with Ángel Lalinde and Alain Wergifosse, which was presented live at the Modulartec festival. Before that he had recorded the fantastic Dómina Esteléctrica, released by Geometrik. Javier has never stopped putting out music, and since 1990 he has kept releasing, under his own name, interesting records that we discussed in our interview a few years back. Krishna, for his part, had unearthed some old tapes recorded with Micro Chip League in the late eighties, which were released by our friends at Italo Moderni a few years ago. Bureau B also looked back at the Sri Lankan artist’s more recent past, this time to recover material from 2007 on the album I Need A Slow. Now, at last, we can hear him singing new material.
Revenir, thanks to its blend of electronics and acoustic sounds like Krishna‘s guitar, sounds timeless, like an album lost in time. You can tell that both Javier and Krishna recorded the album with care, building it patiently, with meticulous attention to detail. And so we get a work best enjoyed with headphones, in complete silence, to savor an extremely painstaking production in which every sound has its purpose and fits perfectly. The ghostly air of Hernando‘s music comes together with Krishna‘s more playful melodies, creating a unique work.
The album starts with “Craquements,” a symphony of creaking windows and doors opening for us, welcoming us into these two artists’ original musical world. It’s an experimental piece with synthesizers and noises that appear and disappear, always unpredictably. “Symmetric View,” by contrast, is a more pop track, with Krishna‘s dreamy voice, a prominent bass line, guitars, and Javier giving it a distinctive touch. A pop song from another galaxy that makes us wish commercial music sounded like this. “Miettes et Crouttes” is an unsettling track, more experimental in Hernando‘s style, with a distant rhythm that seems to give some physicality to this floating, watery piece. “Les Dessous des Dessus” keeps up the unsettling atmosphere with spoken-word from Krishna and terrifying effects, creating an ambient track of great intensity. “Oyster Pascua” is a more industrial, abstract track with chains and all sorts of sounds forming a highly interesting experimental piece. “Blindage Imaginaire” is a mysterious composition of experimental electronics with strange percussion and a whispering Krishna. “Cent Chiffres” is a track to listen to closely, to delight in watching how the small sounds build up an atmosphere. Hisses and broken-up voices are accompanied by a guitar on “Zimba,” a song that conveys a certain sense of danger. At this point we reach a more playful part of the album, starting with “Paradigmos de la Maya,” with guitar picking that gives a jazzy air to this catchy composition, which still has its own original vibe. Krishna sings in Spanish on this track with its oriental flavor. Revenir continues with the techno pop of “Futbolín,” a perfect track for introducing someone to electronic music, and “Gamma Ray,” playful electronica that hides more than meets the eye. This mind-blowing journey comes to an end with “L’Extension”: the creaks return, along with a strange vocal performance from Krishna, in another unsettling track. We definitely need more albums like this one.
