With his second solo album stuffed with guests, the French musician rewrites the night as well as his own story, blending ambient, shoegaze, and tropical textures.
One can take music seriously without behaving like a dreary bore. Gilbert Cohen, aka Gilb’R, has pursued this path for nearly forty years, charging ahead with what excites him while remaining true to his indefatigable curiosity and his desire to smile at life and the joy of creating.
Yes, you need a genuine sense of humor to juggle, between the Brazilian interlude Hà Mar and the hypnotic electro-pop White Light, a humorous excerpt from his dream diary (Rêve 36) captured at dawn and staged afterward. Gilb’R had waited three decades of activity—programming at Radio Nova, DJing, and steering a historic French Touch label (Versatile, thirty years old already)—to release in 2021 his first solo album, On danse comme des fous.
A Self-Portrait as an Eclectic Reveler
In the meantime, he has conceived a ton of music, often with his life-long friend Nicolas Chaix, alias I: Cube (through their joint project Château Flight), but also with the late Nicolas Ker, Judah Warsky, or Lisa Li-Lund. It’s no surprise that L’École de la nuit, though built on about ten collaborations, stands as a precise self-portrait, depicting him as an eclectic reveler, eyes searching for new horizons before soaring into the stylistic visions he guides us through.
Who, except him, could bridge Chicago house (Monsieur Zinzin) and a Milton Nascimento-like grandeur (the already cited Hà Mar single with the three Brazilian talents Alvaro Lancellotti, Júlio, and Julinho Pimentel) without the point-based game slipping off course? With its twelve adventurous tracks, L’École de la nuit is like a twelve-sided die that, with each throw, writes a different, gripping story, not necessarily danceable.
The Old-Man’s Rule begins in jazz with the saxophone of Quentin Rollet; Canadian guitarist Ben Shemie (Suuns) helps Gilb’R take a breath in an ambient moment. Swedish vocalist Monica Tormell (also featured on White Light) multiplies herself on the entrancing A Thousand Frames, just before the strange and fascinating instrumental Beauté tarée. Deep Side Center, with electric guitar by Maxime Delpierre, the voice of Judah Warsky and keyboards by I: Cube, heads toward a foggy shoegaze that might have appeared on a ’90s Inrocks compilation. The night, Gilb’R’s night in particular, is a land of possibilities and no proposal blocks another. In thirty-five minutes, he takes us on a journey through his generous inspiration, and as with every release, it was worth the wait.
L’École de la nuit (Versatile/Word and Sound). Available since June 15.
