Behind The Muse Frequency moniker is one Sébastien Nouat, who is described as a ‘sound designer’.
Behind such a description lies the fact that Nouat is an artist and producer who works with different musicians around the world to combine spoken word and ambient music, usually to create a meditative background, with the spoken word as the key.
It turns out it is quite a popular field which is, unfortunately often plagued with both lightweight words and even more lightweight music. The problem there is that such a lightweight combination becomes quite impersonal and makes practically no connection it seeks with the listener.
On his latest release, Diary of an Artist in Love,’The Muse Frequency seems to be able to jump easily above all the hurdles this specific genre can post before an artist.
The album’s spoken words (as well as music) are inspired by the work of diarist Anais Nin, presenting a challenge in itself. The first hurdle would be choosing the right artist to speak the text/lyrics. The second would be to create the right balance between the words and music, without giving the possibility to either to overpower one other.
Yet Nouat manages to give both the spoken word and the music he combines a balance that such a combination requires so that it doesn’t become either too impersonal or too schmaltzy, usually the hardest outcome to achieve in this genre.
