NILS CHEVILLE & THE DANSANT – The Dansant | Fvll Albvm (2025)

Nil Cheville & The Dansant is an experimental, composition-driven rock ensemble that blends world-music colors (Oriental and South American motifs), progressive, avante-garde, electronics and improvisation in their genre-defying music. Their adventurous sonic palette may be compared to to avant/experimental projects such as Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn and others of the kind, highlighting complex arrangements and a theatrical, cinematic sensibility.

The Dansant stand out as one of those rare ensembles whose eclecticism feels less like a stylistic collage than an organic vocabulary. Critics describe their work as “rock savant,” a learned, experimental rock that deliberately crosses boundaries: traditional Oriental and South American motifs meet electronic textures and improvisational impulses. The group stages encounters between deep melodies and hypnotic rhythms, often shaded with psychedelic resonance, which gives their pieces a ritualistic, trance-like quality.

The listener will find in The Dansant’s compositions the adventurousness of avant-garde luminaries like Secret Chiefs 3 and John Zorn. The comparison is telling: like those projects, The Dansant embraces abrupt shifts in mood, theatrical contrasts, and an ear for the cinematic. Their use of Mohan veena, vibraphone, bass clarinet, Moog, Farfisa, and a rotating cast of collaborators reinforces a sound world that is constantly expanding yet tightly arranged.

The Dansant is a laboratory of sonic narratives. They belong to that lineage of European experimental groups who treat music as both a performance and a theatrical staging of contrasts — learned but visceral, intricate yet capable of overwhelming directness. If their international recognition is still modest, the critical consensus in their local scene is clear: The Dansant cultivate a body of work that is at once erudite and passionately alive, placing them among the more original experimental ensembles in today’s French music landscape.

Recording live in Imago and La Baie des Singes Sound engineer: Charles Gourlier and Etienne Mazoyer Mix: Etienne Mazoyer Mastering: Gautier Serre in La Bastide Recordings Artwork: Antoine Vallet

Drums: Rémi Faraut Bass: Antony Miranda Guitar: Nils Cheville Keyboards: Benjamin Bardiaux Rhodes and moog: Anne Quillier 1,3,5

1.La Marche (00:00) 2.Sitron (04:44) 3.Moussaka (09:51) 4.Fa Dièse (14:45) 5.Carbono (20:02) 6.Cosmique Baleineau 2 (24:15)

Album available on Bandcamp