Begin Says – Arbeit
From Essai
Released on Facteurs d’Ambiance, 1988, France

Essai is a compilation released on the cult independent label from Aix-En-Provence, Facteurs d’Ambiance. Featuring songs from French New Wave underground star Martin Dupont – whose three albums were also released on Facteurs d’Ambiance, before getting a consistent reissue on Minimal Wave – Essai also shines some light on lesser known French acts from the same era, including Begin Says, which, in our opinion, provides the strongest songs on the compilation.

Begin Says is a short lived band who released a single album, but whose best contribution to French New Wave seems to take the form of the three tracks released on Essai. Their three songs stand out from the rest of the compilation thanks to a very subltle orchestration of both electronic and acoustic instruments (including a moaning violin) and a softly desperate sense of melody.

Arbeit, if not our favorite song from Begin Says, really renders some popular elements from French New Wave’s mythology, including the ambiguous links with totalitarian regimes (« Arbeit » and « Lenine Said »  are very suggestive ways of calling one’s songs…).

The sadness contained in this song is really devastating, especially at this time of the year, when Autumn slowly turns itself into Winter.

Here is also Lenine Said,  our favorite song from Begin Says, as posted by szatowski on his great Youtube channel :