Album Review: Cotton Claw - Volutes

For some of you – except for our German and Italian friends – May 8th is a bank holiday known as Victory Day. Aside from any celebration, it is indeed Victory Day for Cotton Claw, as the four-producer band releases their debut album Volutes worldwide today!

The 12 tracks of Volutes have been extracted out of four minds and eight hands playing live on 64 pads. Cotton Claw has been formed under the impulse of Lilea Narrative and unites Zo aKa La Chauve Sauris, Zerolex and YoggyOne. The band describes itself as a live band, and indeed the four producers have toured across Europe since their debut EP Dusted.

Truth be told, the album is out since late April in France, so it has turned in repeat in my ears for a while now. And having seen them live may have triggered a somehow deeper fascination in my understanding of their performance. Anyhow, it most certainly affected my (re)listening of the album.

I let you judge by yourself with this live recording of "Crooked" - from their debut EP Dusted issued in 2013.

Volutes can be summed up as a fleeting yet persistent moment. It begins with a catchy "Leaps and Bound" and dissipates in the course of 48 minutes with "Hold Up".

Those Volutes unroll every aspects of a club music without ever going round and round in circles. "Grainy" or "Sunset Glow" explore the territories of melodic house music, whereas "Hornets" takes elements of afrobeats and rhythms soaked up in sun. Some tracks ("Razzle Dazzle", "Noulafé", "Soaking Method") plunge you into the deep of the night. "Time Trial" is feverish and will drive you into a kind of primitive trance. "Vertigo" drives you to more dreamy soundscapes - it's the calm before the playful "Tweak Dat Nip" storm. "Outrun" puts you on a little cottony cloud drifting here and there by the wind. "Hold Up" looks towards more techno-oriented horizons to close the album on some deeper notes.

If these Volutes have triggered a will to get the band better, watch what will come in a few days… ;)