Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Not all is built upon what some may consider to be on fertile ground, life has a habit of taken the expertly laid plans and finding ways to makes them shatter into pieces, sands shift, expectations rise and fall, and yet throughout it all, Concrete And Glass will somehow find ways to prove the enormity and scale of how humanity lived, soared and eventually found a way to live with itself.
It takes humility to see Art as more than just an edifice to which your own glory can be praised, it takes the idea of illumination to light your own way but it takes perfectly fashioned concrete to give shelter and it takes glass to keep you safe whilst you stare into the distance and reflect on what will be. Above all, Art requires a draftsperson, a builder who sees layers not as a formula for complexity, but of beauty to which they wish to share, and it is one exemplified by Nicolas Godin.
Not everything that is wrapped in strength is greeted by the touch of the velvet glove, some offer peace without redemption and some will play the tune of the light whilst harbouring resentment and chaos in their veins; Air’s Nicolas Godin, across his music, and throughout his latest album, Concrete And Glass refuses, quite rightly, to stoop to that level of artistic insubordination, instead he battles fiercely, but with compassion pouring out of his soul, to provide a substantial thrill of elegance to the listener’s day, and to make musical love with a sultry and determined kiss of appreciation to which there is no rebuff possible.
To be stirred by a piece of music is a pleasure, to find what amounts to painstaking beauty of a stain glass window surrounded by the truth of physical existence is to feel elevation, and in tracks such as What Makes Me Think About You, Time On My Hands, Back To Your Heart and Catch Yourself Falling, Nicolas Godin influential acknowledgment to the architects, to those who see the world from blueprint to original build, is one of spiritual breathing, of cleansing the air, as his want, and then adding his own distinctive performance to the landscape.
An album of humble exhibition, but one that is a grand design made real; Concrete And Glass is a crystal clear presentation, a serenade to those who build the dreams we need.
Nicolas Godin’s Concrete And Glass is out now and available from Because Music.
Ian D. Hall