With several high profile acts emerging from the French electro/house scene, the expectations of yet another fantastically buoyant and exciting duo following in the footsteps of fellow natives Daft Punk were high, particularly when their album ‘Discodéine’ boasts tracks featuring names such as Matias Aguayo, Baxter Dury and Britpop great Jarvis Cocker. That said, the strange choice made by the duo (made up of acclaimed musicians Pilooski and Pentile) of overly repetitive and somewhat directionless ‘Singular’ as the opening track to the album set the album off to a bit of a poor start.
The journey taken throughout Discodeine’s selftitled album is without doubt a strange one, if not frightening a large part of the time. The unusual marriage of the steel drums used in the track ‘Falkenberg’, the twanging plucking of strings of promising tune ‘Antiphonie’ and heavy bass throughout creates a difficulty in understanding the thinking behind this predominantly slow tempoed album on first listen, but on further hearing the accepting of Discodeine’s ‘voodoo’ influence is ever present and with this understanding comes appreciation. Arguably the trouble with the unfamiliar structure of the album stems from the minimal use of vocals, yet it is really only new anthem ‘Synchronize’ featuring vocals from Jarvis Cocker and calming (however not forgetting the band’s trademark overuse of synthesisers) ‘D-A’; with sweet vocals from Baxter Day, that demonstrate their significance, presenting questions of a future dance floor filler. The ever changing rhythms of the album portray the highs and lows of the intense journey, however it may be said that the tedious and lethargic tracks ‘Homo-compatible’ and ‘Depression Kit’ are undeserving of a place alongside such interesting songs.
As the album comes to an unfortunately awaited end with final track ‘Figures In A Soundscape’, although the overly experimental and weird noises are without doubt taken too far, Discodeine’s choice of a rare finale to their investigational album is fitting. Whether the listener would prefer less of an unnerving finish or not, the French duo’s adventurous outlandish sound is there at the both the opening and closing of the album and just like any other adventure, there is a sense of a calming retirement after and exciting interior to the album.
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