A cursory listen to Flor, the opening track on Outredore, might have you convinced that you’re listening to some antique lo-fi nugget, a piece of French avant-folk from the early 1970s, perhaps. But dig a little deeper, listen a little harder, and you will notice slight interruptions and tiny embellishments that can only come from a world where genres as varied as folktronica and musique concrète have already peaked and passed, things that point to something far more contemporary. But it’s foolish to attempt to situate Sourdure’s music within a historical context; it feels both pre- and post-everything.
Sourdure is Ernest Bergez, a French musician who is also part of a duo (Kaumwald) and a quartet (Sourdurent). He sings in Occitan and French, often collaborating with other singers, and his solo career stretches back about a decade. His practice is defined by a thoroughly DIY approach and an utterly unique way of tripping traditional songs up with electronic elements that feel beamed in from a different time or place. His songs have some of the uncanny feel of the Third Ear Band’s early improvisational instrumentals, but with the distinct flavour of French and Mediterranean music, as well as those disconcerting electronic interjections.
The more heavily manipulated songs – Cinq, for instance – sound like a kind of world music from the future. Scraping melodies strain towards discordance, percussion chatters incessantly, Bergez’s voice fights to be heard. And then, two-thirds of the way through Cinq, a complete sea-change occurs: the song becomes a kind of maelstrom, its melody subsumed by the swirl of traditional and non-traditional instruments. Peira, with its glitchy stop-start dynamics, vocal samples and quick-fire singing, seems like an avant-garde incursion into the realm of hip-hop.
The collaborative songs have more concrete musical precedents. Le Pebre (featuring Lisà Langlois) calls to mind Brigitte Fontaine and Areski’s mid-1970s albums, at least until the final section, where sonic manipulation derails any pretentious attempt at conventionality the song might be harbouring. L’or des fous (featuring Le Diable Dégoutant) is a jaunty, folky duet underpinned by spooky, monotonous notes, screeching strings and insistent percussion. It is these contrasts that provide the weirdest moments on an already weird album. Here they evoke the atmosphere of a strange, darkly celebratory ritual. On Pauvre cirque (with Eloïse Decazes), the contrast exists in the combination of clattering percussion and almost robotic vocals. It sounds like some glammy French pop song left to mature in a cave and forgotten for a few generations. It seems to have grown a kind of post-industrial fungus.
There are moments of more conventional beauty too. Ainani has minimal accompaniment: just Bergez’s soft vocals following a malleable melody dictated by his plucked strings. Here you can clearly hear North African influence in French folk. The short and sweet Primabocha foregrounds Bergez’s singing and offsets it with synthesised flutter and something that sounds like a muted free jazz horn solo. Manieiras de vent, the stripped-back final track, pairs Bergez’s voice – now impassioned, now quiet – with lost-at-sea horns and a low-lying drone. Like the rest of this absolutely singular album, it floats freely and pierces deeply.
Outredore (September 18th, 2026) Pagans and Murailles Music
See UK and Ireland Tour dates below (including London’s Cafe OTO and Dublin’s Bello Bar).
Upcoming Tour Dates:
19th September — Poitiers (FR) — Grand Mess, Confort Modern
25th September — Brighton (UK) — Rose Hill
26th September — London (UK) — Cafe OTO (prom. Baba Yaga’s Hut) w. La Tèn
27th September — Birmingham (UK) — Artefact
1st October — Belfast (UK) — The Accidental Theatre (prom. Moving on Music)
2nd October — Dublin (IE) — Bello Bar (prom. Enthusiastic Eunuch Promotions)
17th October — Castrignano de’ Greci (IT) — Ogni Altro Suono, KORA, Palazzo Baronale de’ Gualtierisi
21st November — Aurières (FR) — La Pie Folle