Les Imprimés in Cologne
Norwegian singer, musician and producer Morten Martens has been on the scene since the early 2000s, producing and mixing various projects in different genres, from hardcore stuff from The Middle End to hiphop for the group Darkside Of The Force. But the music which influenced him the most was soul, gospel, easy listening. Everything from D’Angelo to J Dilla to Burt Bacharach. Finally last year, his debut album came out, after long sessions in the studio his project Les Imprimés was born and “Rêverie” saw the light of day. To categorize the music as indie rock is a bit offbeat I think, because the soul influences clearly stand out, as witnessed last night at Yuca in Cologne, where the group stopped by for their sixth and final show in Germany.
The 60-minute set was a showcase of the 12 tracks that comprise “Rêverie”, from the album opener “I’ll Never Leave” to our favorite track, “Love & Flowers”, which was the show’s closing song. It was interesting to find out how his band was taking on the sometimes intricate, mostly infectious tunes on stage since Morten played all instruments himself on the album, from organ to electric guitar, from vibraphone to piano, bass and drums plus a lot more. So it was a bit of a disappointment to find out that there were big sound problems where the keys and vocals were restrained, and parts of the drums and lead guitar simply too loud so that it was difficult to actually hear the band in full. But still, Morten’s voice and his overall ethereal and unique sound are real gains in the music world, with tracks like “Next To Me” or the new single “With You” being standouts not only during their live performance, but on record as well. And thank you for including “Thousand Clouds” and “Falling Away” in your set. The folks at Brooklyn’s Big Crown Records, the independent label started by Leon Michels (El Michels Affair), who also co-mixed the album, should be proud to have Les Imprimés on their roster.
The group continues their tour with performances in Glasgow (Sep 26th), Manchester (27th), London (28th), and Bristol (29th).
