Published on Jul 2, 2021
A legend in the area of electronic music, the French musician and video artist Anne Laplantine has been active since the late '90s. She brings a healthy catalog of solo albums (some under aliases) and collaborations with her. On this first outing for the Cudighi label, Laplantine offers us 23 tracks of her exciting and unpredictable synth-pop that occasionally rubs elbows with punk and New Wave moments, too.
“ari” starts the listen with plenty of cautious and adventurous, minimal sounds as Laplantine's breathy vocals are nothing short of spellbinding. This creativity continues to the piano heavy and very dreamy “chelam,” as well as charming, modern electro-pop of “espece animale.”
Though there's a lot of tracks here, many don't even surpass two minutes, and each one is quite different from the rest of the pack. Middle tracks like “chemin” flirt with post-punk as hypnotic, darker moments meet strategic bleeping, while “chouy” is a very stylish and precise textured display of moody, cultured pop. “ariversaire,” an album standout, then flows with a firm beat, warm keys and a light buzzing as Laplantine showcases an immense amount of talent.
Approaching the end, “octoO2” moves with much grace amid a mysterious, even cinematic landscape, and “Premier Printemps” exits the listen with plenty of atmosphere as some of the best singing on the record (she sings in French) floats around a light and airy delivery.
Laplantine has come a long way from her formative years doing covers on tapes, and her lo-fi, glitch friendly, and atypical electronic manipulation that also uses acoustic instruments settles in quite nicely on the first listen.
Toss in some eye catching artwork, a download code (this is physically available on cassette only), and you've got some of the most interesting and clever pop of the year.