Peter de Havilland - Bois De Boulogne (1987)

Sole release by a bit of a mystery musician/composer, who produced this album for Virgin's modern classical/ambient/new age imprint Venture in 1987.  Wikipedia's no help, turning up only an early 19th century Bailiff of Guernsey with the same name.  The mystery appears to have been solved with a bit of sleuthing a few years back by review blog La Voz De Los Vientos, who related their findings on de Havilland (the musician) in this post.  So, if you're wondering what sort of album a British-Canadian-Scottish-Irish teenage musical prodigy and erstwhile Vivienne Westwood model would make, well, here it is.

On Bois De Boulogne, seemingly made with a Fairlight computer, de Havilland's two main interests appear to be baroque-influenced keyboard minimalism, and ethnic-sounding new age pieces with a particular focus on Japanese shakuhachi flute.  The album begins with 10 minutes of the former mode, with the 'Escher' of the title presumably meant to be M. C. Escher.  After this comes the first of four 'Shaku' pieces, with the instrument in question presumably from samples, and then Myoho, a really nice piano and synth piece.  The latter's not a million miles away from the sound of Roedelius' Momenti Felici album for the same label - if I'm remembering it right, only had that one on cassette and must track down a CD someday.

Another two Shaku pieces follow, with the longer one a bit of a trip around the Fairlight and sounding like something Security-era Peter Gabriel might've come up with as a first draft, and the shorter, subtitled 'Chant', offering some interesting vocal manipulation.  It's time for the album's 19-minute centrepiece, Bois De Boulogne: Theme And Improvisations.  The improvisations drift around quite nicely, showing (as on the album opener) de Havilland's considerable keyboard skills, coming back now and again to the melody from the first minute and a half, which will repeat over and over in the finale.  A short reprise of Shaku (Chant) closes the album.  On initial listens, I wasn't sure what to make of this record at all, but it's really growing on me, perhaps because it's just so odd.

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