Véronique Vincent & Marc Hollander | Photo: Diego Crutzen

2020 saw the return of legendary experimental pop group Aksak Maboul with Figures, their first album in more than 40 years. Now there’s again good cause for celebration as they have announced the release of a new album. Entitled Une aventure de VV (Songspiel), it arrives on March 3rd though Crammed Discs, as part of their celebrated composers’ series Made To Measure.

Written and arranged by the label and band’s founder Marc Hollander, the album, as the press release describes, “features his characteristic genre-hopping tendencies: strands of electronica, pop, jazz, collage, techno, ambient, improv, krautrock, contemporary classical & systems music”. A continuous suite of fifteen pieces, Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is also described as an experimental audio play, with Aksak Maboul devising characters and stories. “The central thread”, adds the album’s blurb, “is an enigmatic philosophical-poetical tale unfolding through monologues, dialogues, spoken and sung by a series of characters.” There’s a compelling playfulness and looseness on the album, with storytelling as a driving force behind it.

Aksak Maboul enlisted outstanding musicians including Audrey Ginestet and Benjamin Glibert of Aquaserge, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, John Pearce aka Alig, the founder of Family Fodder and Don The Tiger, as well as Faustine Hollander, Lucien Fraipont (aka Robbing Millions) and Erik Heestermans.

‘Talking with the Birds’ is the first bewildering cut to emerge from Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) and it leaves the listener wanting more. Take a listen below.