Released on July 26th via Brooklyn’s Ba Da Bing! Records, ‘forgive too slow’ is the startling debut album from Anglo-French electronic experimentalist Julia-Sophie- and it’s an absolute treat. There is something hazy and hypnotic about this arresting and original set of songs but also a restlessness – a representation of the wandering path taken in search of an authentic life. With authenticity, though, comes the full gamut of the human experience; things have clearly not been straightforward. To say this is an album about relationships would be reductive – a lot is going on here- but it is in many ways about just that: relationships with a meaningful other, relationships with our different selves, relationships with our past (however difficult): how we escape from these complex relationships; and the prospects of future relationships too. Some melodies shift and mesmerise, but there is also a starkness at times that is confrontational, alienating and raw. It’s breathtaking.
The lead single, Numb, is a suitably enigmatic entry point to these carefully textured, obsessive songs, examining spiralling self-destruction with forensic detail. Beginning with a sub-bass rumble that feels like it’s coming through the damp-stained walls from the flat next door, it builds slowly. It is intimate, almost too intimate, but also presented in that stark, detached tone that belies this fact, the throbbing synths and propulsive, mechanical beats a bastardised mutant of the 80s. The spoken verses are dusted with cold-room reverb and echo as strangely secretive additional whispers are pushed low in the mix – almost inaudible. This adds further to the claustrophobic mania built throughout as, all the while, that relentless pulsing rhythm endures.
2am begins everything, a half-formed snapshot of remembered time, that voice glacial and yet full of emotion. These are songs whose melodies are subtle yet sensuous, penetrating and potent, layers of subterranean electronics glitching and shimmering dazzlingly. The sections of spoken word are effortless and uncontrived – shifting between French and English with dexterity- they feel hushed and conspiratorial and incredibly intense. Things become more abstract, fractured and experimental at different points, the already detached voice broken and reformed like a cubist maquette, a drug-induced and oppressive nightmare. There is also something lustful and exposed at the core of this music- a song formed as personal revelation. This works brilliantly in contrast to the almost dehumanised sound collages surrounding the compositions’ core.
This is also exceptionally controlled in its production, with those clinical beats dropping in and out and providing perfect, emotional catharsis. There is no getting away from the intensity of the aural attack, though- this feels at times anxiety-riddled and panic-stricken, with narcotic loneliness lurking at its centre. The repetitive beginnings of Falling are almost reminiscent of The Weighing of the Heart. Still, the vocals and surrounding atmospheres feel broader, and the bass is more percussive and no less impactful as a result. Comfort You’s warbling synth lines and squelchy. Processed rhythm builds slow and suffocating atmospheres, a piano adding bright textures to the mix. This undulating, faintly nostalgic ambience continues in the almost underwater-evoking introduction to Just Is, the subtle keys full of retro-futuristic associations. Wishing Thinking, on the other hand, feels totally besotted with 80s mainstream – even early Madonna springs to mind, particularly with the repeated, ‘huh..huh..huh..’ echoes arriving seductively in the background. Joyfully toying with the avant-garde, Julia-Sophie is clearly also happy to allow both feet to rest firmly in the realms of pop. Better allows for a little more space to invade and proves, not that it was ever in doubt, quite how precise and sensitive a vocalist Julia-Sophie so clearly is. It’s a beautifully intense thing that voice can offer emotive resonance despite an often ephemeral coldness to its delivery.
The final song, Telephone, a song enveloped in yearning and a sense of loss, is rich in wonderful, seemingly prosaic, lyrical details- that somehow carry greater significance because of their everydayness; it’s also the finest melody, to these ears, from the entire album – her exact voice somehow warmer and more embracing. The way the pitch bends and fluctuates as it meanders to its and the album’s conclusion gives everything a further dreamlike quality. And then, at the very end, when the vocals suddenly crackle in lo-fi, whispered confession, it is as if Julia-Sophie has allowed her secret memories to be distilled. What a way to end an astonishing debut.
Julia-Sophie is someone I’m sure we will be hearing a lot of; I certainly hope we do. Listen to ‘forgive too slow’ at the closest opportunity. It will make your day a better one.
Written by M.A Welsh (Misophone)
Music | Misophone (bandcamp.com)
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