Grive: Tales of Uncertainty

Grive is a collaboration that has been some years in the making. Consisting of Agnès Gayraud (La Féline) and Paul Régimbeau (Mondkopf, Oiseaux-Tempête, FOUDRE !, Autrenoir, Extreme Precautions), the French experimentalists take beautiful scenic routes to find common ground on their debut long-player, Tales of Uncertainty.

Sharing ideas as far back as 2015, through haze of lockdowns and global pandemics, the duo released their self-titled debut EP in 2021. And further ground is covered on Tales of Uncertainty – an album that slowly unravels into a cinematic odyssey, calling upon the rural landscapes of their native France. It’s doom with locality, both in sound and theme.

Starting with Hotel Room, which is like tumble weed rolling through the streets of a sleepy town. And as synths permeate with a prairie hum, Gayraud parts with a story seemingly inspired by a scene from Twin Peaks. Wait and See continues down those mind-altering paths, this time with the duo barrelling through the dark vortex at freefall, as cascade drones recall Régimbeau’s work under the equally excellent Mondkopf.

Both are quite the world away from Burger Shack. A beautiful chiming lullaby, with warm drones bubbling underneath the mix. It gives the song a spatial-like backdrop, as Gayraud recounts a noirish, blue collar tale that feels like something familiar to a scene from a Dennis Lehane novel.

Dark Woman on Earth follows and is everything its title suggests. With rumbling, eerie remnants of early Low, Grive orchestrates a rattling folk lament that’s fit for lonely nights pottering around the house. The slow churning majesty of Go Up the River occupies similar territory. With sound that rises like funnels of smoke, Gayraud and Régimbeau channel their love for the Cocteau Twins to great effect.

Meanwhile, Quicksands sees Régimbeau stamp his mark with the kind of dirge-y doomgaze that sends shockwaves to the core, stretching the Grive sound template to frightening new corners. It’s these corners that lead to the duo’s pilgrimage, as the pastoral backdrops and flatlands inspire closing stanza, The Loop. A hypnotic dream-state that sweeps you up into another world.

Just like Dark Woman on Earth, Tales of Uncertainty can be taken in a literal sense. It’s not immediate by any stretch, as Gayraud and Régimbeau oscillate between their influences, pulling from different places all at once. Such methods could result in something haphazard, but through the chaos, the duo manage to produce something strikingly cohesive. It’s a perceptive alliance, and as Tales of Uncertainty keeps on unravelling, in all its unease and nuance, it still feels like it has more to give.

Tales of Uncertainty is out now via Talitres. Purchase from Bandcamp.