A diggers curio comes to life with the release of Group Du Jour’s Motion Of Waves. Mixing folk and ethnic traditional forms, together with touches of free jazz and rock, entwined with sparse electric guitar and drum programming to create what they coined “Techno-Ethnic” but can be deemed a Balearic masterwork.
Founded in Portland, Oregon in 1983 by Daniel Crommie and Bo and Paul Parker as a contemporary pop / folk conglomerate they coalesced into a more experimental sound with the release of their ground-breaking “Forgotten Colors” album in 1986 and the following “Wonderful Vision” in 1988.
Motion Of Waves appears on the latter as a peak, an instrumental groove of atmospheric synthesizer, flute, guitar and swaying, haunting vocals sitting over a perfectly rudimentary electric beat. Recorded live in the studio in one take, the ethnic-folk undercurrents propel the song’s simplicity to a dreamy sunset or sunrise accompaniment.
As copies of the album have become increasingly sought after, seeing ‘dead-stock’ copies traded at inflating prices, here then presented is the original mix on 12” for the first time. Cut loud for DJ play, the EP also includes an alternative live studio take with the Cassette Mix and is backed with previously unreleased on vinyl, We Travel Dark Waters, a beautiful, drifting and meditative close.
With a career spanning several decades, Group Du Jour’s merging of live, ethnic, and electronic sounds capture a specific time that reaches across the Oceans of time to fit perfectly today.
