Roxane Métayer - Éclipse des Ocelles

Album of the year contender here from French-born, Belgian resident Roxane Métayer, who on this debut outing suggests herself as some kind of avant savant violinist. Assembled around drone-based structures, folk-inspired orchestration, found sound and the occasional spoken word contribution, Métayer is at once both virtuoso and somehow possessed of a DIY intimacy. The layered field recordings are key in splitting the difference, a natural world addition to what is quite ambitious composition. It has a similar effect to that of the private world musings of Felicia's Atkinson's Echo, though i think Éclipse des Ocelles has a subtle spirituality, like a lo-fi Organic Music Society (it's the whistles on Couverte de Trèfles), and the semi-improvisatory element adds an engaging element of unpredictability. There's some obvious kinship with Ellen Fullman (never a casual comparison), and Métayer is obviously a gifted and intuitive player, but what i like best is just how emotionally engaging and evocative this music is. This was recorded and mixed by Métayer, and she also designed the artwork - it shows. More of that very rare and always inspiring world building. An incredible debut.