Morglbl Jazz for the Deaf
by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer
It’s hard to decide what is this French trio’s most attractive feature: the phenomenal guitar chops, the humour, or the musical knowledge which stretches from hard rock and prog to jazz and electronica.
After a 10-year break, Mörglbl are capturing their listeners’ imagination again with their trademark stew of all those genres delivered with blistering heat and plenty of humour. The album’s title is, of course, misleading, but on closer examination you realise that, after all, it’s not the term “jazz” they define this record by, but “jäzz”, which, invented by the band, is a completely different kind of take on contemporary music.
The opener “Mörglbl Circus” sums up what “jäzz” really is when rock guitar set over some chiming jazz chords suddenly morphs into an instantly catchy vocally phrased melody. At times it showers you with cascades of rapid-fire notes in an offhand display of virtuoso technique, at times it flirts with circus themes, at times attacks you with raucous metal riffs, and at times shoots off into direction of absolute kooky silliness. The result has no name and is nothing else but the product of band leader’s and guitarist’s Christophe Godin’s own deeply idiosyncratic worldview.
Godin is, of course, apart from being a quintessential guitar hero, is also a comedian par excellence, his sense of humour and inability to stick to one genre taking Mörglbl on a wild ride through styles, eras, cultures, and intentions. At times you think that if only he could stick with those perfectly formed, laconic scorchers of rock riffs he is so brilliant at, he’d make a fortune out of them, but here we have one man who likes to defy expectations, no matter how lucrative the prospects they could potentially fetch. As a result we have a richly eccentric, expansive, thoroughly enjoyable act which has such a firm grasp on such a multitude of contemporary styles that it is able to cohere them all into its own uniquely original, complex, picturesque voice.
Label: Independent
Track Listing:
1. Mörglbl Circus
2. 22 Oz
3. Borderline
4. Myspacebook
5. Stoner de Brest
6. The Bleach Boy
7. The Monster Within Me
8. Jäzz For Deaf People
9. Point d’Org
10. Hell’s Balls
11. Untold Stories
12. My Little Man
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10