Biography
Rhùn emerged from the Basse-Normandy area of northwest France as a Magma-shaped ensemble whose participants live in and near Caen along with the coastal towns of Coutances and Cherbourg. The musicians draw on numerous traits associated with Christian Vander’s long-running zeuhl pioneers, among them martial rhythms, free-jazz preoccupations, choral chanting modeled on Magma’s invented Kobaïan tongue, and an affinity for diacritical flourishes, above all umlauts. At the same time the group departs from Magma’s stricter demeanor by favoring boisterous avant-jazz skronk and indie-guitar abrasion over the black-clad, Carl Orff-inflected post-minimalism that defines the source, and it steers clear of the proggy or metallic edge found in drummer Tatsuya Yoshida’s Magma-derived project Koenji Hyakkei and kindred Japanese zeuhl outfits. Members have in fact characterized their sound as “garage zeuhl.”
When choosing their collective name the musicians, whose parents can probably be ruled out as the source, appear to have consulted the same Kobaïan lexicon Magma employed on its 1977 album Attahk, the record that introduced such adopted identities as Dëhrstün for Vander, Ürgon/Gorgo for bassist Guy Delacroix, Klotz for vocalist Klaus Blasquiz, and Thaud for vocalist Stella Vander. Roughly thirty-five years afterward Rhùn extended the practice to its own roster and circle, assigning handles that range from plainly fabricated to others of ambiguous provenance: Captain Flapattak on drums and vocals, Damoon on bass and vocals, Thybo on guitar and vocals, Brunöh also known as Brhüno on saxophones, bassoon, and vocals, Sam also known as Samïsh on saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, and vocals, Fabien De Kerbalek on guitar and vocals, Marion also known as Marhïon Mouette on vocals and percussion, Emilie Massue on vocals and percussion, and the widely appreciated Lemmy Croquettes handling sound.
Between 2008 and 2009 the band produced two editions of a demo, the later five-track version issued by Caen’s Babel Fish label under the title Fanfare du Chaos, after which the group attracted notice from Milan’s AltrOck imprint. From June 2011 through January 2012 the musicians laid down further material, inserting interludes performed by wind players from the chamber ensemble Pantagrulair—Séverine Lebrun on transverse flute and piccolo, Rémi Christophe on oboe, Catherine Mousset on clarinet, and Pierre Mariette on horn. (Whether Pantagrulair’s bassoonist Bruno Godard and Rhùn’s Brunöh also known as Brhüno represent one individual remains an open question.) AltrOck brought out the band’s debut full-length Ïh in 2013; the album comprises three pieces from the 2011–2012 sessions together with three earlier demo tracks presented as a “bhönus,” all mastered by Udi Koomran at Ginger Studio in Tel Aviv. Vocalist Massue appears on the bhönus selections while Mouette sings on the 2011–2012 recordings. The Ïh liner notes also credit the apparently ennobled Sir Alron as bassist on the bonus tracks, although Damoon is listed as bassist on the separately released Babel Fish demo Fanfare du Chaos; it is conceivable that, outside noble circles, Sir Alron is simply Damoon momentarily adopting a chivalric title as his personal bhönus.
When choosing their collective name the musicians, whose parents can probably be ruled out as the source, appear to have consulted the same Kobaïan lexicon Magma employed on its 1977 album Attahk, the record that introduced such adopted identities as Dëhrstün for Vander, Ürgon/Gorgo for bassist Guy Delacroix, Klotz for vocalist Klaus Blasquiz, and Thaud for vocalist Stella Vander. Roughly thirty-five years afterward Rhùn extended the practice to its own roster and circle, assigning handles that range from plainly fabricated to others of ambiguous provenance: Captain Flapattak on drums and vocals, Damoon on bass and vocals, Thybo on guitar and vocals, Brunöh also known as Brhüno on saxophones, bassoon, and vocals, Sam also known as Samïsh on saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, and vocals, Fabien De Kerbalek on guitar and vocals, Marion also known as Marhïon Mouette on vocals and percussion, Emilie Massue on vocals and percussion, and the widely appreciated Lemmy Croquettes handling sound.
Between 2008 and 2009 the band produced two editions of a demo, the later five-track version issued by Caen’s Babel Fish label under the title Fanfare du Chaos, after which the group attracted notice from Milan’s AltrOck imprint. From June 2011 through January 2012 the musicians laid down further material, inserting interludes performed by wind players from the chamber ensemble Pantagrulair—Séverine Lebrun on transverse flute and piccolo, Rémi Christophe on oboe, Catherine Mousset on clarinet, and Pierre Mariette on horn. (Whether Pantagrulair’s bassoonist Bruno Godard and Rhùn’s Brunöh also known as Brhüno represent one individual remains an open question.) AltrOck brought out the band’s debut full-length Ïh in 2013; the album comprises three pieces from the 2011–2012 sessions together with three earlier demo tracks presented as a “bhönus,” all mastered by Udi Koomran at Ginger Studio in Tel Aviv. Vocalist Massue appears on the bhönus selections while Mouette sings on the 2011–2012 recordings. The Ïh liner notes also credit the apparently ennobled Sir Alron as bassist on the bonus tracks, although Damoon is listed as bassist on the separately released Babel Fish demo Fanfare du Chaos; it is conceivable that, outside noble circles, Sir Alron is simply Damoon momentarily adopting a chivalric title as his personal bhönus.
Albums
