Sucre du sauvage

Quintron (a.k.a. Jay Poggi) is a wildly inventive multi-instrumentalist who plays keyboards, guitar, and drums, as well as synthesizers and drum machines that he builds himself. Sucre du sauvage was recorded with his wife and musical partner, Miss Pussycat, in 2010 at the New Orleans Museum of Art during a three-month residency in which they set up a recording studio as an exhibit, performed daily in public, and created the album from the results. (The exhibit was called Parallel Universe: Quintron and Miss Pussycat Live At City Park.) Quirky, funky, leftfield pop tunes dominate the first half of the album, propelled by frenetic, hard-swinging organ grooves and fleet drumming. Miss Pussycat’s vocals steal the show on “Banana Beat” and “Spirit Hair.” The deconstruction that comes with the second half of the album is a complete surprise. Beginning with “Elevator” and continuing through the closer, “Morning,” he forms moody, layered soundscapes from bits of instrumentation and field recordings of weather, birdcalls, traffic, and other ambient sounds of New Orleans. A combination of performance art, concept album, and experimental sound collage.