Artist Biography
Rhùn is a Magma-influenced band from the Basse-Normandy region of northwest France, with members residing in and around the regional capital of Caen and two coastal communes, Coutances and Cherbourg. The group incorporates many stylistic elements of Christian Vander's longstanding zeuhl pioneers of the '70s onward, including martial beats, free jazz fixations, chanted vocal choruses in the style of Magma's invented Kobaïan language, and a love of diacritical marks, particularly umlauts. However, the band is somewhat less severe than Magma, tipping a bit toward rambunctious avant jazz skronk and indie guitar crunch rather than black-garbed Carl Orff-tinged post-minimalism (and also less proggy/metallic than drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's Magma-inspired Koenji Hyakkei and other groups of the Japanese zeuhl school). In fact, Rhùn's members have reportedly described their music as "garage zeuhl."
In naming themselves (unless their parents were responsible, but that seems doubtful), the bandmembers seem to have ripped a page from the same Kobaïan book as Magma circa the Attahk album of 1977, when the original zeuhlists adopted such monikers as Dëhrstün (Vander), Ürgon/Gorgo (bassist Guy Delacroix), Klotz (vocalist Klaus Blasquiz), and Thaud (vocalist Stella Vander). Around 35 years later, Rhùn identified themselves and their associates in similar fashion, with names ranging from obviously invented to others of varying/suspect origin, including Captain Flapattak (drums and vocals) Damoon (bass and vocals), Thybo (guitar and vocals), Brunöh aka Brhüno (saxophones, bassoon, and vocals), Sam aka Samïsh (saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, and vocals), Fabien De Kerbalek (guitar and vocals), Marion aka Marhïon Mouette (vocals and percussion), Emilie Massue (vocals and percussion), and the ever popular and possibly palate-pleasing Lemmy Croquettes (sound).
Circa 2008-2009, Rhùn produced two versions of a demo recording, the second five-track version issued by the Caen-based Babel Fish imprint under the title Fanfare du Chaos, and the band subsequently garnered attention from Milan, Italy's AltrOck label. From June 2011 to January 2012 the group recorded additional tracks, supplemented with interludes from members of the Ensemble Pantagrulair chamber winds (Séverine Lebrun, transverse flute and piccolo), Rémi Christophe (oboe), Catherine Mousset (clarinet), and Pierre Mariette (horn). (And is it possible that Pantagrulair's bassoonist Bruno Godard and Rhùn's Brunöh aka Brhüno are the same person? Pure conjecture.) AltrOck released Rhùn's full-length debut, Ïh, in 2013; the album includes three tracks recorded during the 2011-2012 sessions and three earlier demo tracks as a "bhönus," all mastered by Udi Koomran at Ginger Studio in Tel Aviv. The bhönus tracks feature vocalist Massue, while Mouette appears on the recordings from 2011-2012. Also, the Ïh credits name the apparently knighted Sir Alron as bassist on the bhönus tunes, although Damoon appears to be the bassist on the Fanfare du Chaos demo separately released by Babel Fish. It seems possible that, in the world of commoners, Sir Alron is merely Damoon, who had at least momentarily adopted knighthood as his own personal bhönus. ~ Dave Lynch
Hometown
Coutances, France
Genre
Prog-Rock/Art Rock