I often felt lost between the extremes of isolation in a crowd of strangers, and the embrace of a bustling city as I was listening to Didier Recloux’s latest single. ‘First Walk’ is the lead single of Recloux’s studio album Monsieur Linh and His Child, and its poignancy makes it an ample teaser for what seems like a very charming concept album of cinematic jazz.
Belgian in origin and based in London, Didier Recloux is an acclaimed film and television composer, and his latest foray sees him turn his sights towards the world of literature. Monsieur Linh and His Child is Recloux’s musical adaptation of a novella of the same name by French novelist Philippe Claudel, it also happens to have received the personal blessings of Claudel, who called the album “sensitive and subtle”.
Listening to the album’s lead single ‘First Walk’, Claudel’s description is fitting. A piece about a scene in which Monsieur Linh, a refugee forced to abandon his village in a war-torn native country, forced to resettle in a sprawling city, going on a walk with his child in the unfamiliar metropolis, sounds rightfully alienating while being unquestionably welcoming and warm. The alienation comes from the music’s often drifting tonal and rhythmic centers, and often modal tonality, giving the composition a sense of indifference towards the alienated gentleman. Yet the instrumental warmth, carried forth by affectionate woodwinds and booming brasses, encapsulates the city’s ability to embrace anybody and everybody in its sprawling expanse of crowded districts and lit streets. Especially fitting to the scene, in which Monsieur Linh decides to retire to a bench, reminisce, and sing his child a lullaby.
‘First Walk’ is a wonderful experience. Beautifully mixed and masterfully conceived, with a balanced, warm arrangement, and a twisting, adventurous composition, the piece paints a vivid scene with its timbres. Never too harsh, or too soft, ‘First Walk’ is a perfectly engaging trip from an acclaimed composer.