Frànçois & The Mountains

Solide Mirage

Frenchman’s fifth album, adding political dissent to his Afro-beat modernism.

The press notes state Frànçois Marry “rediscovered his adolescent passion for the power of grunge” after performing across the Middle East, post-Arab Spring. This lends Solide Mirage new politicised focus after the more personal slant of 2014’s Piano Hombre; such as the migrant crisis in Grand Dérèglement (aka Great Deregulation). But the only musical shift is Bête Morcelée (aka Beast Spotted), which isn’t grunge but zippy punk; the rest reprises Marry’s trademark conjoining of equally joyous Afro-pop (he’s partCameroonian) and Anglophonic guitar-pop (Vampire Weekend and Orange Juice fans will dig). If only we nonFrench speakers could get the full benefits. An English language version, à la Christine And The Queens’ Chaleur Humaine, would open that particular door.