Tracklist
| 1 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – John Levers The Ratchet | 0:30 | |
| 2 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – What Is A Componium - Part 1 | 6:45 | |
| 3 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Charles's Birthday Card | 0:48 | |
| 4 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Will You Gamelan For Me? | 3:02 | |
| 5 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – The Sad Panther | 1:53 | |
| 6 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Under The Roof | 3:09 | |
| 7 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – What Is A Componium - Part 2 | 3:06 | |
| 8 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – A Bear Is Trapped | 1:04 | |
| 9 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Please Gamelan Again | 2:30 | |
| 10 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Your Heart Is So Loud | 3:56 | |
| 11 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Calypso In A Box | 0:47 | |
| 12 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Bicycle Bells | 2:28 | |
| 13 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – Happiness Nuggets | 2:13 | |
| 14 | Colleen Et Les Boites A Musique – I'll Read You A Story | 6:49 |
This is the first time this mini-album of music box recordings has been pressed to vinyl. Originally released in 2006, it started life as a commission by the Atelier de Création Radiophonique (part of French national radio station France Culture). It features brand new artwork by long term collaborator Iker Spozio.
“It seemed like a dream opportunity to explore further the miniature continent of sound that music boxes in all their variety generate” says Colleen’s Cécile Schott in response to the carte blanche handed to her by national radio station France Culture’s Atelier De Création Radiophonique to record music for a special broadcast.
The commission would have remained just that, but Schott was so pleased with the results she decided to give the nod for the recordings to be released on this 38-minute EP, under a temporarily revised artist name.
No stranger to the use of music boxes in her recordings and live performance, the consciously limited palette yields extraordinary dividends; this is arguably the most intimate and wonderfully melodic release of her career to date. Composed entirely using music boxes (but for one track), the pieces use everything from miniature boxes hidden in 1940s birthday cards to large Victorian boxes. Not content with the orthodox sounds produced by the boxes, Schott hijacked them, playing them with her fingers or with mallets on the comb. She re-sampled and affected pitch and delay in a quest to produce unique sounds and melodies.
Utilising the natural loop in each box, the different boxes move in and out of time, evoking memories of childhood. This playful nature ebbs and flows throughout the EP like a stream unsure of its chosen path. Sounds reminiscent of harps (‘What Is A Componium? Part 2’), xylophones and Fender Rhodes (‘Your Heart Is So Loud’), and electronics (‘Calypso In A Box’) appear and then disappear on the landscape, fooling the listener into believing that the noises emanate from more than one type of instrument.