A collection of reinterpreted historical French folk songs is not something that would normally interest me but could La Cozna, with their album “Ni Nuit Ni Jour”, nonetheless entice me to listen to these twelve songs in their entirety?
“Ni Nuit Ni Jour”, as it turns out, is more than just an academic investigation into songs of the past with La Cozna adding in more than a dash of modern day extended improvisational discontinuities to their sonic recipe to thus expand these songs not only in time but also in flavour. The result is an interesting hybrid of the freeform with the forever forlorn with those words of the past being successfully intertwined with modern day artistic pretensions to produce something akin to a musical tapestry that transcends time.
Whilst perhaps not an album to entice hardcore historians or even traditional folk fans, neither is this album one that should be limited to the ears of those entranced by the esoteric with Clémence Baillot d’Estivaux’s perfectly poised voice, in particular, providing an enchantment that will cast a spell on the rest of us.
Neither night nor day indeed.