"ALVIN : ONE DAY IN THE UNIVERSE" (by Daph Nobody/Daphnis Boelens)
Entertaining, reviving, rocking, groovy, cool, fresh, delightful.
Welcome to the coloured world of ALVIN. Very few albums succeed in generating such a positiveness. The universe of this complete artist (he writes, composes, sings and plays – thank God! such an artist still exists!) swallows you in a whirl of joy and glitter. Because we are dealing these days with a dark crisis (moral, ethical, religious, political, social, economical...), many artists tend to reproduce in their music the gloomy moods of the 21st century society. Forget it here! Alvin’s music belongs definitely not to the “destroy” decadent widespread attitude. Its magic rests in its ability to intermingle decades. Musically speaking, you will go through a little glide back to the past, but with a true concern for contemporaneous breaches (loneliness, aspiration to nature... as in Silence). When you listen to his sunny tracks (though fissured with melancholy), you get the feeling that you personally grew up with them, probably because they convey the basic but essential emotions you experience when confronted by the four elements, which is an all-time inner process. His piano (notably in the splendid So many lives and In the rain) reminds you of the rain, now thin now thick (which heavy drops resound on every surface around), you happen to cross sometimes as you walk back home without your beloved one by your side, while the streams, along the gutters, carry away all human waste, cleaning the city from dust and dirt...
One Day In The Universe, a title that perfectly reflects the spirit of the album. Simple and complex at the same time. Each song of Alvin is a tale (Terre Éther), telling about the sky and the earth, about the individual and the masses. But no dogmatic and ponderous message here. Only naked feelings, a true conversation with one’s conscience. Is there anything greater than a music opus you can listen and perceive more in depth when you close your eyes? Have a try, and you’ll find yourself on a swing pushed by the wind. And because childhood and adulthood meet here, you regain a state of balance and serenity.
In Alvin’s music, there is an indefinable something that is reminiscent of London. No wonder... Alvin lives in London now! As a result, this album, following the example of this mythical city, moves, grooves and delights. It shines and invites you to hop aboard. And there you are, crossing avenues swarming with people. Then you seep into alleys, all harbouring forgotten treasures, legendary places, magical nooks and crannies.
Another good point: not so many artists nowadays have a recognizable voice, the way Sting, Phil Collins or Elton John have. Alvin is undoubtedly one of them. He banks on different registers (Turn the page), using ethereal humming, mysterious vibratos... The least you can say is that his lungs are not short-winded. Likewise, it is difficult, today, to catch melodies that are easy-to-remember (unless they are covers of old hits or built on famous samples), as if modern times, with their freedom of excess, their overdose of sound production and unlimited sophistication, had driven to an incapability to reorganize 7 notes on a keyboard. Alvin’s tunes quickly settle in your mnemonic jukebox. Besides, they breed sunbeams in the fog. Between a clear blue sky and a mattress of grey clouds, enjoy this rainbow of fresh soul.
Different genres converge (pop, rock, electro, disco...), and the whole is completely harmonious. You can’t help thinking of Electric Light Orchestra for its musical richness and variety, of the Beatles for their touching lightness, of Hall & Oates for their lively rhythms, or even of Chris Rea for the beauty of the tone and the autobiographical character of his speech: features that unite the audiences (Paper Boat).
The charm of this album also lies on the beautiful combination of instruments (Magnetic Field): they fulfil every single minute, but never overload the acoustic flow. Alvin’s voice is never drowned in the accompaniment (contrary to what you can notice in most songs nowadays, in which music appears to be much more important than the message communicated), and lyrics stick to the foreground, to your great delight, because what is said is meant to be meditated on.
Joined end to end, all these tracks construct a strong continuity, the one of a man running from train stations to airports, from ports to highways... A man looking for a balance between silence and trouble, between stillness and e-motion, for a golden mean halfway to attachment and aloofness. Therefore, everybody can identify with him. Some quests can only exist in a state of despair. It’s the reverse in Alvin’s case. What the character that inhabits all songs here tells you, throughout his adventures, is that he finally found deep inside of himself what he didn’t manage to dig out outdoors. Hence the gladness ruling the whole album. It belongs to the range of rare opuses that make you rediscover the pleasure to listen to real music, without those overmixed unauthentic voices and too sophisticated backups that are used to boost the air in malls and supermarkets. In a nutshell, an album that will make your day. And because of its brightness, it’s worth its weight in gold.
