Sergeant
Sergeant

Sergeant is the avant-pop band of composing cineast Benjamin Cools and search-singing actor Ferre Marnef. For a long time they only burst out exclusively on stage, but now they have gathered their sampled selves at the abyss of pop music anyway. The songs on the record sound like a "date gone wrong" between post-punk and krautrock, but mostly like the kind of indie rock that Warp thought was cool for a very brief time in the 00s. Through the Paris of the 70s (Gainsbourg!) and the industrial Ruhr, they take you on a trip brimming with Dadaist collages and abstract punk. Their self-titled debut is released by the Ostend-based experimental music label STROOM, run by Ziggy Devriendt (aka Nosedrip).

For this record, the musicians sampled themselves - Sergeant calls that method DJ Shadow in reverse. From their archive, they drew a mountain of analog loops, which they then meticulously montaged into nine poetic songs. In the tracks, 1 Fender Mustang, 1 Microkorg, 1 Rdr Rhythm DR-670 and dozens of flutes are ground through effects, processors and DIY recording techniques. For Cools and Marnef, making music is getting sound layers and textures moving. Like editing a movie, Sergeant cuts the sonic scenes into one.

Sergeant's home base is Brussels, the metropolis on the verge of bankruptcy, and that is audible in the density and rushy contrasts on this pop record. Cools and Marnef operate in the world of film, theater and music. Previously they have been involved with bands such as Soldier's Heart and De Nooit Moede, and in theater they share a history with Tibaldus, Desnor, Bosse Provoost, Ezra Veldhuis, Buren, ...

The mixing is the work of the Antwerp godchild Milan Warmoeskerken (Milan W.) who produced other people's music for the first time. With his eye for detail and balance, he created a deeper layer in Sergeant's music.