Distant Voices

I am in touch with different labels from all over our beautiful planet, and I like a lot of them. But one of my most appreciated ones must be Distant Voices from France. It has to do with three things: 1. the great crew behind this label, 2. the sonic side, i.e. the fine recordings this label did release until now (it’s a personal opinion, of course, but I do appreciate about all of the things offered to the audience by this French team), and 3. the personal approach of each single release.

I will not go to deep into the Distant Voices history – I often did so in the past, and I will certainly come back to it once again when preparing, writing and publishing my review for the album Aux Ombres, Mon Corps, En Manifeste (in a near, yet unknown future). The latter too got created by label owner Thomas Bel, also known as Fille De Misère of the fine project Misery and Jzovce.

I do not exactly exaggerate when defining Distant Voices as a very unique label. Okay, about the musical taste one can discuss (I do not discuss, for I adore about all releases), but each single release is like a unique thing, almost like a collector’s item. Every release is handmade and extremely limited, with no repressing whatsoever, so all copies must be adored, idolised.

It has been a long time (almost eight months – sad smiley…) that I did write a review for Distant Voices, a very unique label from the South of France. The label releases happy Pop Music… Nope, not at all! The label releases dark and obscure Music, from integer Contemporary Classical and Ambient to harsh Black Metal and DSBM. Their trademark, however, has to do with the physical formats especially: all of them, without exception, are handmade (going for both tapes and compact discs).

A short one, this review.

First of all: this label. I’ve expressed my appreciation for Distant Voices a thousand times before. Check out about any review I did in the past (enter the label’s name in ‘search’ and you’ll find quite some reviews, fifteen up to twenty). I never forgot to focus on the magnificent ideology that characterises this French label.

I will be very short on this one, for this new Aube Grise release soon follows the Hanterieur recording, and in a very near future I will come back to the Shale / Arrache-Moi ep. But until then, this CDr…

When talking about the French Distant Voices label, I usually go into superlatives. That label deserves this for sure, and this for a couple of reasons. I like the crew behind, for they are really devoted to the scene, preferring craftsmanship and identity above profit. I like the few projects involved, for that’s the kind of Aural Art I do simply adore. But it’s this label as well that does release quite everything in a strictly limited yet totally handmade edition.

It’s with a huge dose of shame, but I must admit: I have not (been able to) write down my thoughts on the Distant Voices debut for Sadness, Somewhere Along Our Memory…, released at the very end of 2016. In mean time, this re-issue (there was a first pressing via Depressive Illusions, if I’m not mistaken), is sold out, so I need to apologize to the label. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

~~With pleasure I present you a new review for the small yet unique French label Distant Voices. They’re ‘small’ in the meaning that they do release only a handful of albums each year. Quality prevailing on quantity must be their motto, and that also returns in the artistic totality of each release. It goes, of course, for the sonic result of each project involved (and every album that gets released by this label), but every single release is handmade and hand-numbered. Therefor all releases are strictly limited, with no repress possible afterwards.

The French label Distant Voices did surprise me every time for both the sonic result of each release, as well as the devotional artwork involved. This time it is not different, for the CD-version of the sophomore Scars From A Dead Room album has been designed by the Distant Voices team once again. It’s a cold, totally black edition with two cards inserted, containing quite mysterious artwork (which does fit the philosophy of both label and artist).