Post-rock by a chamber music ensemble from Belgium: this first album from Ogives, "La mémoire des orages" (The Memory of Storms), mixed by Steve Albini , offers long and dense tracks, symmetrically arranged into a 75 minutes melancholic epic. These pieces revolve around the themes of the perception of time and the perspective of death.
Ogives is a 9 piece Belgian band, driven by the composer / multi-instrumentalist Pavel Tchikov and the drummer / poet Alexis Van Doosselaere. Chamber music, loud riffs, pure choirs, electronic textures, Ogives is a myriad of contrasts. The classical composing techniques such as tintinnabuli, polytonality and polyphony intertwine the post-rock legacy, while the electronic textures of modular synths embrace the pure classical female vocals. Moreover Ogives' music finds its inspiration in the ancient European music and in its inherent spirituality. Byzantine chants, baroque counterpoints, Old Roman monodies all are elements in the background of the band's composing style. Ogives' roots are lying in the legacy of numerous artists such as Arvo Pärt, Swans, Low, Steve Reich,
Coil, Iannis Xenakis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tool, Autechre, King Crimson,
John Zorn, Amenra, Einstürzende Neubauten, Extra Life, Mono, Neurosis, Floating Points, etc.
