LA FÉLINE
Vie Future
KWAIDEN
7/10
French synthpop auteur embraces strings on this mournful, dystopian set
The third album by French singer and occasional critical theorist Agnès Gayraud sees her expanding her electro-pop palette with the addition of strings. They help to narrate the dystopian world painted by “Palmiers Sauvages” (a slow-burning 6/8 ballad about climate change) and add a Bollywood feel to “Où Est Passée Ton Âme” (one that’s cleverly disrupted by noisy African percussion). “Tant Que Tu Respires” is an elegant synthpop meditation on the death of Gayraud’s mother, but it’s two drumless tracks that successfully transcend the language barrier – the angular, piano-led “Voyage À Cythère” and the Tangerine Dream-ish synthesised soundscapes of “Visions De Dieu”.