Theodore Wild Ride started from the collaboration between French keyboardists Christine Ott (regular collaborator of Yann Tiersen, Tindersticks, Oiseaux-Tempête...), Mathieu Gabry (Snowdrops) and Oed player Ophir Levy. Theodore Wild Ride celebrates musical freedom and redefines the relationship between space and time with a special, unexpected orchestration.
A CLOSER LISTEN « The oud is the secret weapon of Theodore’s Wild Ride, whose diverse, self-titled album straddles the worlds of folk, rock and modern composition. (...) a set that is simultaneously contemplative and enthralling »
GONZOcircus « An ideal soundtrack for dawn »
Their first joint album is released on Icarus Records (Otto Lindholm, Kevin Verwijmeren, BOW,...), in collaboration with Consouling Sounds (Jozef van Wissem, Witxes...). The album unfolds like a magical film, which can be set in the vast American landscapes of bygone days as well as in a post-apocalyptic future.
From the naïve melody of “Little House” to the post-classical tango of “Paoha”, from the ambient of “Squirrel Creek” to the
progressive instrumental “Zeppelins”, the trio blends both Eastern and Western musical codes and references in a strong
coherence.
The amplified strings respond to the delicate sound of the felt-treated piano, the microtones of the Ondes Martenot mingle with the quarter tones of the oud, to the point of challenging the cracked electronics of a detuned mellotron in a final explosion.
A record like a solo expedition: a journey that the listener experiences accompanied by this unusual chamber music, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dark and vulnerable but always questioning our place facing natural forces, the wild world, and the cruelty of ourselves.
The artwork is by visual artist Jeroen De Wandel. After listening to the album and without knowing any background, he created the artwork with a manipulated photo, photographed in the American Yosemite Parc in 2018 with a broken 1935 Kodak Retina... which turned out to be a perfect fit for the backstory of this album, where time and space are not fixed concepts.
i10 & SOULCLXII
Icarus Records & Consouling Sounds, 2021
RADIO FRANCE « Le trio brouille les pistes et les références, orientales, occidentales ou d’un autre monde »
LES OREILLES CURIEUSES « une bande-son immersive qui nous offre des sensations fortes comme jamais. »
VEIL OF SOUND « This record is really wonderful, it engages you into a one-on-one conversation with the sounds and with yourself. Music somehow timeless and without a distinct space but everlasting and everywhere »
LIVE EYE TV « L'art artisanal de Theodore Wild Ride se déplace sans effort entre les frontières des styles, du passé et du présent, pour créer les possibilités d'un nouvel avenir »
JAZZMANIA « La magie opère »
TEASER :
youtu.be/6fo4RjID9HE