Le Loup - 'The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly' (Memphis Industries) Released 03/12/07

Look beneath the surface of 'The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly' and we find a title not cooked up by some crack-head fiendishly looking to upstage the U.N. Assembly, but taken from the work of the solitary, outsider/visionary artist/janitor James Hampton of South-Carolina-cum-Washington-D.C. who build 'The Throne' in secret, in a garage for some 14 years. Finished before his death in 1964, 'The Throne' is celebrated as one of the greatest examples of outsider art, comprising of some 177 separate junk objects each meticulously wrapped in silver and gold foil in homage to the Transcendent, with the words 'Fear Not' above the central throne, and quotes from that old potboiler The Book Of Revelations, as well as the Old and New Testaments.

Le Loup have a stage set-up comprising 7 band members with a loyal following centred in the artistic community of their home-base of Washington D.C., whereas the studio recording is the work of just one-man -  Sam Simkoff. With a love of the ramblin' man's banjo, with electronica and vox, 'The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations' Millennium General Assembly' melts like a buttery crumpet with songs inspired by Dante's Inferno that never peep too far into the apocalyptic abyss, but take their cue from the catacombs of Dante's personal hells coupled with Hampton's vision, stacking and looping vocal harmonies at times comprising no less than a dozen overlapping and intertwining vocal tracks to create bucolic soundscapes rich in their pattern-making which seem at odds with the crisis at work in the songwriting. Created during a time of personal crisis for Sam Simkoff, 'The Throne...' is a cataclysm, an escape, and a journey.

Making erstwhile use of the ole banjo, the oriental instrumentation on the spoken word of 'Canto I' makes for an exotic opener that dreamily meanders down the Yangtze, or some such, whilst 'To The Stars! To The Night!' roams with the banjo and takes gorgeous jubilant vocal harmonies in thrall to the starry heavens, poetic creepers with "...the silver scars that mark the night..", and 'Breathing Rapture' takes the banjo and marimba to marry hypnotic chants with a Yeasayer-esque panache and success. 

Galloping banjo leads the jaunty 'Le Loup (Fear Not)' with a title in homage to James Hampton and a gleeful, giddy folk-tune, with Tunng-like harmonies featuring on the apocalyptic 'Planes Like Vultures' with the line "...should we end before we're shriven..." goes into the mellow mantra-refrain "...Oh this world was made for ending...", and featuring a funereal organ and searing synth on the beatific 'Look To The West', whilst the end of the world is acknowledged on the jiggery-electro-doodle-pop of 'Outside Of This Car, The End Of The World' is populated with phantoms and heavenly kingdoms, and the chirpy choon 'We Are Gods! We Are Wolves!' makes for a swinging party with Minotaur Shock-like electro wit and charms, and 'I Had A Dream That I Died' closes proceedings with a Sufjan Stevens-like canto.

'The Throne...' illuminates throughout and manages to transcend the crushing realities of personal crisis and universal gloom to deliver a work of sinuous artistry where concepts never interfere with a love of music, a journey through banjo-wheatfields, electro-doodles and cataclysmic possibilities where fluttering harmonies steer the world from the brink. Succour be thy friend!