KWOON: Odyssey (POST ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

There are albums that don't just tell a story, but invite you to live it, to feel it in every note, every breath. Kwoon's “Odyssey” is such an album. A sonic voyage where the sea is omnipresent, not only in the musical textures that stretch out like an infinite horizon, but also in this idea of departure, disappearance, expectation and hope. It's a record that evokes the sailors of yesteryear, who set sail without knowing if they'd ever return, the children who gaze at the ocean, imagining distant worlds, and the souls that sail between past and present, carried by the surf of memories.

Following in the footsteps of such post-rock greats as Mono, Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Rós, Sandy Lavallart, who initiated the project, constructs a music in which space is an instrument in its own right. From the very first notes, the sound stretches out elegantly, bathed in deep reverbs, airy guitars and atmospheric layers that evoke immensity and contemplation ('Leviathan'). Like the sea, the music is at times soothing, at times raging, with slow progressions that seem to sail with the current, before amplifying into crescendos of pure emotion.

But behind this bewitching atmosphere, “Odyssey” is a deeply human album, where post-rock blends with chanson, folk and ambient touches. It carries with it the nostalgia of childhood, a time when everything still seemed possible, when we could believe that the ocean hid invisible realms and that the lost would eventually return. King of Sea' (a duet with Babet from Dyonisos) is the perfect embodiment of this double reading: supported by an evolutionary structure typical of post-rock, the track starts gently before gaining momentum in a poignant finale. The melody floats, suspended, playing with a reminiscence of “Prelude to the Moon”, as if the music itself wavered between dream and reality.

Then, at the turn of a note, Kwoon takes us back to more dreamlike, acoustic lands. Jayne' is in a more pared-down, minimalist vein, where chords slowly unfold, like a more organic Air leading towards Radiohead. 'Blackstar', with its floating samples and stripped-down melody, recalls Pink Floyd's contemplative approach, playing on repetition and the subtle addition of layers of sound to build a tension that never fully lets up.

Yet it is in its instrumental finale that “Odyssey” reaches its full post-rock dimension. 'Nestadio' and 'Keep On Dreaming' break away from the song format to open up a free, introspective parenthesis, where textures take precedence over melody, where emotion dispenses with words. The progressive crescendos and suspended beauty of the guitars evoke Mono, creating a sense of wandering and floating, as if the album were deliberately leaving the listener to trace his or her own wake.

Throughout “Odyssey”, Kwoon plays with contrasts: light and shadow, departure and expectation, reality and memory. There's always a glimmer of hope that pierces the mist, a feeling of weightlessness that lightens even the most serious themes. A fragile balance, where cinematic post-rock intertwines with the intimate, where music is both refuge and escape. “Odyssey” is not an album to be listened to casually. It requires time, space and abandonment. It's like an inner journey, a breath of air laden with sea spray and nostalgia. It's an album that's not just heard, but resonates long after you've left it. - Official website

KWOON

ODYSSEY

KLONOSPHERE

POST ROCK