$olal - The Moonshine Sessions

The Moonshine Sessions showcases the somewhat whimsical foray of French tango-electronica stalwart Philippe Cohen Solal into the world of country music. Not ironic country or alt-country, mind. Proper country. Certainly, the results sound suitably authentic. Having relocated to Nashville in pursuit of that real southern flavour, $olal recruited a myriad of country music cognoscenti, including Jim Lauderdale and Ronny Bowman, who serve to add the prerequisite Tennessee drawl or winsome lap steel to Solal's own compositions (and two very questionable covers in Pretty Vacant and Dancing Queen). Apparently Solal originally intended to weave his own synthetic beats into this music but, finding it impossible to improve upon what was already there, opted not to interfere. As such, the album bears virtually no trace of Gotan Project or any of his other work. It emerges simply as a standard country album of the usual country songs about the usual country subjects. No more, no less. [Chris Cusack]