One of the wonderful things about attending a music festival is being exposed to artists you would otherwise never come across. Sometimes this is an interesting diversion. Sometimes it’s fun. And every once in a while, if you’re really fortunate, you experience something… seminal.
That’s what happened to me in the late afternoon in a record shop in Reykjavik, the day before Iceland Airwaves 2024 kicked off. It would have been easy for me to pass on seeing a solo double bassist because, after all, who has even heard of such a thing? But I was there when Kham Meslien stepped onto the small stage with a borrowed instrument, a small sampler, and a shaker, and proceeded to blow my mind.
Meslien is from France, and he’s only been performing as a solo bassist for about four years. Seeing his fingers interact with the bass is like watching a painter at work, the simplicity of the compositions meaning you can hear every single note as you see it played. I believe he leveraged a sampler to record himself at the start of the tracks, then used those samples as a base upon which to weave a tapestry of sound in a way that felt like a story unfolding. The performance was spellbinding and captivating and all the other superlatives I can throw at it, and it made me a believer again, a believer that there are new and interesting and beautiful things out there to still be discovered, and that the search is worth the effort.
Released in 2022, Fantômes… Futurs captures much of the live feel. To listen to “Ta Confiance” or “The Alarm” is to be subsumed into the composition, to become part of Meslien’s story, a warm tonal embrace that guides you along the narrative. Most of the tracks are instrumental, making it easy to sink into the sonic warmth, though we are treated to spoken poetry on “La Couleur (Elbows of the Land feat. Anthony Joseph)”, the cadence of verse feeling perfectly integrated with the music. High points for me are the aforementioned “Ta Confiance” along with “Ka Ka Ka”, but you really can’t go wrong with any of the album’s 10 songs.
You can explore Fantômes… Futurs, as well as purchase the vinyl, on Meslien’s Bandcamp page HERE. Had I heard it back in 2022 when it was released, I can almost guarantee that this would have been one of my Top 5 picks – it’s something truly special. There you can also hear Meslien’s latest, Fantômes... Électriques, a re-imaging of his 2022 album that incorporates electronics.