A LOOK AT COS

From the depths of Zeuhl, Jazz, Progressive and Canterbury rock, Cos emerges and enchants with a hypnotic and cryptic language that asks to be deciphered, leaving the listener momentarily stranded, somewhere between Boma and Bomma, much like an opium smoker or the hippos on the river Boma, or both… Unique and truly Belgian, with a touch of defiant humour, yet with uncanny finesse, Cos rightfully delivers the word, often with no words at all, through a rich texture of pulsating and elastic bass lines, magical farsifa organ, intricate drums and percussion and the ever-present blistering duality of Shell and Son. Son who almost entirely discards language, using her voice much as a new instrument. Schell who reinvents language in his subtle punctuated guitar phrasing. With this album, we are given hints of something that parallels the creation of a new world. We are passengers of a ship that is heading to uncharted terrain, a place that belongs to Cos and to Cos alone, a place that feels like outer space, yet familiar and even comforting. A place from which one never returns as the same person. Viva Boma is this journey and we are delighted to be part of it.

Saturday

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 The pair also composed "L'idiot Leon", which refers to the lydian musical form and to an imaginary character, Leon, a typical and popular figure of open-air cafés and Brussels folklore. This ambitious composition contains a harmonization in 3 voices (oboe, flute and bass clarinet) as well as a 5/8 time signature, meditative passages and wild sequences. Some parts of the theme were included in "Son of idiot" by AKSAL MABOUL, the group formed by Marc HOLLANDER after he left COS.
 The album ends with "Ixelles" in which long instrumental parts alternate with vocal sequences in French dealing with the pollution in that Brussels district where Daniel was born. Denis van HECKE underlines the melancholy of the theme and of  Pascale's voice with the low chords of his cello.



The front sleeve artwork was designed on Daniel's suggestion by Alain GOUTIER, a former pupil of the Brussels Beaux Arts Academy. The backside consists of a photograph taken in July 1976 at the Cafe des Sports (a typical Brussels place in the style of the 1930's) by Anne ROLAND, a friend of the group. The original black and white model was coloured by Vincent KENNIS, a musician of the Brussels area and future associate of Marc HOLLANDER. It features all those who took part in the album: the whole group, Marc MOULIN, Jean-Louis HASEVOETS and girlfriend, Denis VAN HECKE, the guest musicians with their girlfriends, the "grandmother" Anna MULLER, the group's manager, Dirk VINKEN and his wife Sonia, Vincent KENNIS (who wasn't there but appears in the mirror) and Charlie van de KERKHOVE, the sound engineer.


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