france: do den haag church

Mental Groove presents a vinyl reissue Do Den Haag Church from France.  The recording is raw and the mastering is fat. The first two pressings made in 2014 and 2015 were distributed confidentially and during the numerous live performances of the band. This pressing features brand new artwork. "France is a French trio that uses drums, bass and amplified hurdy-gurdy. They only perform live, in the middle of the audience - turned to face each other - full on smoke machines and strobes. They play only one 'song' for the duration of their hour-long set. And it's the most transfixing live experience of intense physical and mental focus. The distorted hurdy-gurdy plugs France's sound into the country's history of folk music and popular festivities, of communal trance and immersive pleasure. The rhythmic basis is pretty much the same throughout the whole set. One doesn't need to actually be tripping balls for the auditory illusions to start coming thick and fast. Those who've stayed for the whole duration of their performances know they've shared something, however disparate the phantom forms each might have discerned in the midst of the howls and groans. Gigs like this you leave feeling you're not quite the same person who went in, even though you'd be hard-pressed to pinpoint precisely what has changed." -- David McKenna (The Quietus).