Naim Amor, this outfit's namesake, is a show unto himself. He wears a huge orange Gretsch guitar and hops madly around the stage, manically stepping on one or more of the over half dozen pedals arrayed in front of him. When he solos, he often stands on one leg and kicks an invisible object with the other. He applies a solid cylindrical metal object and a steel bottleneck to his strings or scrapes them with his pick, producing a hip-hop scratch, or he plays a toy drum machine into the guitar's pick-ups. The Paris-born Tucson resident also blows a melodica; the accordionesque tones add a boating-down-the-Seine atmospheric.
The sound of Amor is the spot in the universe where order meets chaos. Amor, the man, is a first-rate guitarist whose extensive knowledge of standard jazz chops contrasts with the Hendrixian whammy bar and feedback cacophony. He writes and sings gorgeous love songs as well as covers his countrymen's hits. Tonight he rendered a lovely "Paris By Night", made famous by actor/singer Yves Montand. But amidst all the declarations of amour in both French and English (with many lyrics by Naim's partner, filmmaker Marianne Dissard) and diminished chord balladry, he introduces the dissonance inherent in affairs of the heart by making beautiful racket. The bottom end is provided by Nathan Sabatino on cello. Both Amor and Sabatino play figures into a loop, then improvise on top of the loop, creating the aural appearance of a fuller band. While the loop replays, Naim sips on a beer, cheers the audience, dances a bit and then wails on his axe. Few others in rock are making music as interestingly off-kilter and refreshingly uplifting as these musical subversives.
Naïm Amor cradles a very American Budweiser and says, in his very French accent, that he's not certain who will join him onstage at Club Congress that evening. The core of Amor's solo project includes Amor on violin, melodica and guitar; and Nathan Sabatino on cello, but an open invitation has been put out to other Tucson regulars. Libre de Grasa's Noah Thomas and Calexico's Joey Burns, for instance, might show up to contribute to his lounge-friendly compositions, but, then again, they might not. Either way, Amor is unconcerned.
"The music I play, it works with a looseness," he says. As it turned out, Thomas stepped onstage for that Aug. 19 show about halfway through the set, joining Amor and Sabatino easily with an intuitive ear and well-controlled trumpet.
To watch Amor perform is not to see his recordings represented, exactly, but to experience their re-examination as the singer-songwriter interacts with various technologies. Amor, who has begun adding lyrics to his usually instrumental songs, might pull away from the microphone a couple of seconds early to kneel and mess with a pedal, fiddle with a hand-clapper or grab a violin from its case. Perfection is unimportant. The stress, then, shifts from the songs themselves to their creation, from a restricted set of conventions to a multitude of possibilities.
Amor, who has knocked around Tucson as one half of Amor Belhom Duo for over four years, is recently solo and scrutinizing his own potential. Thomas Belhom returned to France several months ago, putting the band on an unexpected hiatus for an unspecified amount of time. "I was not ready for a break like that," Amor admits, though he seems more than motivated to go it alone. After a couple of local performances in early September, he and Sabatino will head out on a West Coast tour.
Amor will participate in a "French-a-thon" - locals covering French tunes - that will serve to help fund the tour Sept. 1 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Amor also expects to split from Tucson for a while, though not permanently, as he recently bought a home in Barrio Santa Rosa. He'll move to New York City in November or December, he says. "I feel the need to go to a bigger city, coming from Paris," Amor says. "I love playing here - it's just that I need a change. You just move, throw the dice."
His solo material benefits from such
a relaxed approach. Compositions, such as the misty, subtle ones on the instrumental
"Soundtrack" (available on FILMguerrero), are given plenty of breathing room.
A variety of instruments - vibes, acoustic and electric guitars, accordion,
cello - interacts casually, each allowed to surface on its own terms. "My music
is very inspired by the music you can find in thrift stores," Amor says. The
idea of presenting something new is secondary to applying a fresh approach,
he says, comparing the process to ones employed by such Cubanist painters as
Pablo Picasso, who took such common subjects as the human form and represented
them through their own filtering process. "I think your art is defined by the
choices you make," Amor says. If that's true, Amor is a musician defined by
the possibilities he is unafraid to consider.
TUCSON WEEKLY 9/1/02
French Invasion - Naïm Amor finds inspiration in Tucson.
By Gene Armstrong
For almost five years, the Amor Belhom Duo was one of Tucson's most interesting musical acts, playing a groovy, atmospheric blend of rock and soundtrack music that members Naïm Amor and Thomas Belhom dubbed "avant-French pop." The pair of Paris-bred musicians, who relocated to Tucson in November 1997, recorded four albums, collaborated with local acts such as Giant Sand and Calexico, and toured with American indie-rock groups as well as French pop artists. But after a concert tour this past spring of their native country, opening for the French singer Miossec, percussionist-accordionist Belhom decided he needed a break and remained in France.
Guitarist, singer and violinist Amor returned to Tucson, deciding to carry on as a solo act. Which made perfect sense since Amor had just released his first solo CD, a seven-song disc of instrumentals titled Soundtracks, on the Portland, Ore., independent label FILMguerrero. Soundtracks was recorded and produced in the Old Pueblo during 2001. Except for a couple of featured guests, including Joey Burns of Calexico, Amor plays all the instruments. A new, full-length version of the recording is expected later this year.
Amor continues to compose songs with vocals, as well. His usual lyricist is his longtime partner, Marianne Dissard, a filmmaker who has made such documentaries as the Giant Sand short Drunken Bees and Low y Cool, an hour-long look at low-rider bicycles in Tucson. Performing without Belhom presents new challenges, but they're the kind that help you grow, said Amor over a longneck Bud last Sunday evening in the Tap Room at the venerable Hotel Congress. Playing solo, "You feel naked and you're embarrassed. But then you pass certain point where you're still naked and not embarrassed. It's like 'Wow' and you're free to do whatever you want."That freeing experience is similar to the new challenges Amor and Belhom faced as a duo after playing for years in various Parisian groups. They played everything from punk to pop, from Cajun to musique concrète, and were even members for several years of the political theater-dance-music collective Generation Chaos. "But we found that as just a duo, you had to fill up the space with imagination. If you're missing a leg, you have to create another means to walk and eventually to run," Amor said. Amor isn't playing completely alone lately, though. For a while, he was collaborating with drummer and vibes player Jimmy Carr, formerly of Crawdaddy-O. When Amor embarks on a West Coast tour--Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland, Olympia, Seattle--during September, he'll be accompanied by cellist Nathan Sabatino, who also runs the downtown recording space Loveland Studio.
But before heading out onto the road, Amor is coordinating this Sunday's "French-a-Thon," at which local acts will cover the songs of French artists. It's the second such event; the first was held in March 1999 at the Mat Bevel Institute. On the bill will be Tucson artists such as Al Perry, Tom Walbank, Al Foul, Serge (of the duo Bebe and Serge) and Amor, of course. At press time, he still was trying to coerce Howe Gelb (of Giant Sand) and the bands Coin and Red Switch to each have a go at playing Gallic music at the gig. Sunday nights at Club Congress, by the way, are usually Amor's turf. As the regular DJ, he creates an eclectic speakeasy vibe, playing stuff by Martin Denny, Henry Mancini, The Notwist, Burt Bacharach, the Style Council, Chet Atkins, The Who, Joe Jackson, local bands--basically, whatever strikes his fancy. But Amor's giving up his place behind the turntables during the "French-a-Thon." In his place, a fellow DJ will spin French tunes and French-inspired music, he said. Amor said he has can't be too strict when planning with other acts the French music they want to cover. "I have to be pretty indulgent with that because it's hard for someone who doesn't speak French to cover French songs. I tell them that the purpose is not to imitate something. If you make your own version of a song, it may be more interesting." Among the artists whose music will be represented are Serge Gainsbourg, Manu Chau, Yves Montand and Lio, Amor noted. "But who knows what we will hear when the night comes?"
The day before the interview, Amor had returned
from 10 days in New York City, scouting the music scene, hanging out and playing
gigs. He and Dissard plan to move there late this year or early next. Not that
Amor doesn't love his adopted home in the Old Pueblo. "It's a great place to
experiment, have time for yourself and to try new things. There's not too many
distractions in Tucson, and you have the space and the time to think. And, as
you know, time and space are tied together." He enjoys the interplay and feeling
of community among the other musicians in town. "It's really important that
the musicians and the crowd here are interested in what is produced here." Amor
also knows well the benefits of Tucson's cost of living, which is significantly
lower than in major metropolitan areas. "If you only have a little money, you
can still get a big house to live in." A few minutes later, as Amor climbed
behind the wheel of a long, weathered Cadillac, he chuckled, "Another thing
about Tucson--it's the only place in the world I can drive a luxury car like
this."