mon 02/12/2024

CD: Super Besse - La Nuit* | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Super Besse - La Nuit*

CD: Super Besse - La Nuit*

Top-drawer Belarusian post-punk? You’d better believe it

Super Besse's 'La Nuit*': romantic

Super Besse are from the Republic of Belarus, Europe’s sole dictatorship – a country where freedom of expression and opportunities for individual self-determination are limited. As there’s little musical infrastructure in their home country, the label they are on is Latvia’s leading independent imprint. Despite the obstacles, the Minsk-based trio – named after a French ski resort – have played across mainland Europe. La Nuit* is their second album.

Given where they are from, Super Besse would be notable whatever the nature of their music. However, what they deal in and how they put it over renders them notable in any context. La Nuit* opens with “Predlogenie”, an insistent yet supple workout where rubber-band, no-tone bass, distant keyboards and a declamatory vocal combine to form an unexpectedly romantic whole. Yearning clouds the album.

As it moves on, an album suffused with sadness beds in as the soundtrack to fidgety distraction, born from either loss or obsession. What Super Besse are actually singing about is, for non-Russian speakers, impossible to tell. The booklet with La Nuit* includes all the lyrics. In Cyrillic.

Although Joy Division usually crop up whenever the band are written about, it’s not an accurate comparison. Whether knowingly or not, when seen live Super Besse actually draw a line between Leeds’ post-punks Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the very early Sisters of Mercy (also from Leeds) and D.A.F. with light nods to the squelchy pulse of early acid house. On the smoother La Nuit*, Liverpool’s Modern Eon and the early Modern English are in there too. Whatever the possible touchstones, with Super Besse and their dreamy, out-of-focus album, undeniably rooted in the mid-Eighties, Belarus has found its best ambassadors.

Overleaf: watch the video for “Doroga Domoi” from Super Besse’s La Nuit*

Super Besse are from the Republic of Belarus, Europe’s sole dictatorship – a country where freedom of expression and opportunities for individual self-determination are limited. As there’s little musical infrastructure in their home country, the label they are on is Latvia’s leading independent imprint. Despite the obstacles, the Minsk-based trio – named after a French ski resort – have played across mainland Europe. La Nuit* is their second album.

Given where they are from, Super Besse would be notable whatever the nature of their music. However, what they deal in and how they put it over renders them notable in any context. La Nuit* opens with “Predlogenie”, an insistent yet supple workout where rubber-band, no-tone bass, distant keyboards and a declamatory vocal combine to form an unexpectedly romantic whole. Yearning clouds the album.

As it moves on, an album suffused with sadness beds in as the soundtrack to fidgety distraction, born from either loss or obsession. What Super Besse are actually singing about is, for non-Russian speakers, impossible to tell. The booklet with La Nuit* includes all the lyrics. In Cyrillic.

Although Joy Division usually crop up whenever the band are written about, it’s not an accurate comparison. Whether knowingly or not, when seen live Super Besse actually draw a line between Leeds’ post-punks Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the very early Sisters of Mercy (also from Leeds) and D.A.F. with light nods to the squelchy pulse of early acid house. On the smoother La Nuit*, Liverpool’s Modern Eon and the early Modern English are in there too. Whatever the possible touchstones, with Super Besse and their dreamy, out-of-focus album, undeniably rooted in the mid-Eighties, Belarus has found its best ambassadors.

Overleaf: watch the video for “Doroga Domoi” from Super Besse’s La Nuit*

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters