On a pu entendre DB Boyko et Christine Duncan sur le disque de Danielle Palardy Roger, Bruiducœur, prières des infidèles. Les voici de nouveau réunies, cette fois accompagnées de Jean Martin (partenaire de {nbio:duncan_ch} dans le groupe Barnyard Drama). Un percusionniste, deux vocalistes et une contagieuse maladie qui provoque les sons les plus étranges: Idiolalla.

This studio meeting features the husband-and-wife duo Barnyard Drama (which has expanded to a quartet since these August 2004 sessions) and Vancouver experimental vocalist DB Boyko. All three also performed in Danielle Palardy Roger’s oratorio Bruiducœur, prières des infidèles, hence the Ambiances Magnétiques connection. So we have two marvelously crazy female vocalists (Boyko and Christine Duncan) backed by Jean Martin, who sticks solely to acoustic drums — in Barnyard Drama, he also plays turntables and electronics. Boyko and Duncan are highly compatible. Both are fond of onomatopoeias, characterization, and all-out wackiness with a sense of humor. In their own words, Idiolalla is an invented language disease. And you do get the feeling that something is wrong with them, although in this case two wrongs do make a right: the singers feed off each other’s vocal inventions, staging improbable plays in an alien dialect, with Martin punctuating moods and provoking new situations. The trio goes from pseudo-Inuit singing in bap to mock-Italian opera (funala funala coccino), to epic madness in the nine-minute soul sausages, which could almost be heard as a soap opera episode. The nakedness of the project occasionally feels like a constraint, the sound palette of the album remaining rather narrow, but fans of creative singing should definitely investigate. Just get also Barnyard Drama’s I’m a Navvy or Roger’s Bruiducoeur… for a fuller picture of these artists’ work.

Composé de deux improvisatrices vocales et d’un percussionniste, ce trio nous offre un album plutôt mélodique tout en étant totalement improvisé. On sent qu’Idiolalla est le résultat d’une convergence de trois musiciens et non d’une confrontation; les uns s’insèrent dans le jeux des autres pour aboutir à des impros cohérentes. Dans son jeu, Jean Martin est présent sans pur autant s’imposer avec ses percussions. Il insuffle une dynamique rythmique qui encadre le jeu des deux chanteuses. Un disque recommandé à ceux qui veulent s’initier à de l’improvisation vocale accessible sans pour autant lésiner sur la qualité. Christine Duncan et Jean Martin seront avec leur groupe Barnyard Drama au FIMAV ce soir le 18 mai [2006].

According to my research, idiolalla is a psychiatric condition in which those afflicted are compelled to make up their own private language. It’s kind of like a fundamentalist-free version of speaking in tongues, and chances are that if we encountered an idiolallite on the street, we’d scurry away, unnerved by their unfathomable barrage of words. Strange, then, that seeing two idiolalla victims on-stage, backed only by a drummer, should prove so fascinating.

Of course, singers Christine Duncan and DB Boyko don’t really suffer from the syndrome; they’ve just named their new group after it. Idiolalla, in which the two are joined by Duncan’s percussionist partner, Jean Martin, is an exploration of improvisational mouth music, and a chance for three serious musicians to have way too much fun.

That much was obvious from their VOX-festival set’s closing number, which began with Martin laying down an idiot-simple drum beat, like a kindergarten version of rock ‘n’ roll. The two singers then introduced a set of awkward and naive lyrics about rich people and poor people, skinny people and fat people: it was obvious the song was a cover, but of what? At last it dawned on me: this was Philosophy of the World, the title track from what some critics believe is the worst album ever — and thus pure genius in its own special way.

The chorus of “Philosophy…” is simple: “You can never please everybody in this world”. But by ending its debut show with a slice of the Shaggs — no doubt a first for any new-music festival, anywhere in the world — Idiolalla pleased at least as many in the musically literate crowd as it puzzled. In fact, the whole set was a blast.

Duncan and Boyko can sing anything, although the former is known for her jazz and gospel stylings while the latter has trained intensively in Java and Bali. Together, they seem bent on pushing each other ever-further into wordless glossolalia and gibberish, but because their approach is one of complicity rather than confrontation, those out-there warblings smack of effervescent joy. Martin adds colour and punctuation. Although it’s easy for music like this to slip over into self-indulgence, Idiolalla’s performance was too smart, nuanced. These three are on to something, and we wait with interest to see where they go next.