To dance or not to dance / Yelle | L’Ère du Verseau / review
By: Red Dziri
Tags: Album Review, Synth Pop, Yelle, Lere Du Verseau, French Pop

Yelle | L’Ère du Verseau, out on Recreation Center

“Est-ce que toi, t’as la chance d’être toi quand tu danses?” (translating to “Tell me, are you lucky enough to be fully yourself when you dance?”) asks Julie Budet, Yelle front-woman in ‘Emancipense’, barely one minute into their newest LP, L’Ère du Verseau. The line encapsulates the tonal shift in Yelle’s September release, a turn from past oblique existential commentary buried under piles of confetti to after-party confessions on a Parisian balcony within earshot of pulsating synth rhythms. The band — mostly consisting of Julie and partner Jean-François Perrier as well as frequent collaborator Tanguy Destable — handles the late night dilemma with great care: to dance or not to dance is the question at hand.

‘Emancipense’ screams “DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE!” — it doesn’t literally but indulge me — to a techno-house backdrop and an earth-shattering bass line. The opener doubles as a celebration of the power from within, the full reach of a mind freed from self-imposed inhibition. Liberation is a great concern on L’Ère du Verseau, a record dedicated in part to ushering in the Age of Aquarius and doing away with the chaotic and vertical power structures of the Pisces Age. It seems to say that freedom has to come from within first and Julie and the band are willing to follow a more emotionally-charged course to lead by example. The direction makes for sublime moments like the autotuned balladry of ‘Je t’aime encore’ and the introspective power of ‘Un million’ — the former swaying gently to a simple piano motif and the latter making the most of a tight succession of mighty synth build-ups.

Yet for every couple poignant moments lurks what can feel like a missed opportunity. There is something almost passive in the way Julie delivers ‘Peine de mort’, a track exploring the idea that the dead remain with loved ones after their passing — and perhaps rooted in Julie’s own father passing a couple of years ago. The shimmering synths and afro-leaning beat patterns, along with vocal production touches up to the total distortion of Julie’s voice into a robotic simulacre all get in the way of a direct emotional transmission. The sincere core of the music is practically hiding behind a layer (or three) of veneer — it’s there, but it takes work to feel. ‘Mon Beau Chagrin’ marks how grateful the band is of their international fanbase: it hits especially in its first half, almost reading like a voice memo, but the over-produced glitchy later half doesn’t keep the pure energy intact. All in all, the compromised track doesn’t live up to its potential.

And emotive potential, ‘Mon Beau Chagrin’ had plenty: particularly because Yelle has a complicated history with their home country and found a home far away from home with fans dispersed around the world. The band has been way more celebrated abroad than they have in France; although something about this new record seems to reconcile their sound with the French synth pop ethos — which should open multiple doors on the mothership. Through the brazenness of its production, ‘Emancipense’’s final leg bleeds the same color as the bread and butter of current French pop sensations — among which Clara Luciani, Voyou or Angele (OK she’s Belgian) make for decent parallels. Production style aside (and that’s a BIG aside I’ll voluntarily admit) ‘Je t’aime encore’ is strikingly reminiscent of Angele’s 2018 debut — although the comparison becomes increasingly moot as the track progresses, especially as it loses a bit of its hypnotic power during a bridge that sounds slightly uninspired. ‘Noir’ is closer to a Philippe Katerine number, more daring and quirky than the bulk of the album. Really there isn’t any reason L’Ère du Verseau shouldn’t get the heyday it deserves in France for all the influences it shares with its successful contemporaries.

There is an uncanny characteristic of the record that makes it clear it’s not emulating anything other than itself nonetheless. L’Ère du Verseau has a transitional quality, a way many tracks build up patiently, avoiding the pitfalls of repetitiveness by renewing their digital instrumentation along the way but rarely resolving completely. The pop song prototype structure is often discarded in favor of an ecstatic progression that climaxes for no other reason than release. It’s the case for ‘J’veux un chien’, a track that grows more bestial with time to a pulsating beat and futuristic synth. The forthright critique of hyper-awareness and the voyeurism of social media of ‘Vue d’en face’ is supplemented by another organic liberating build up. The melody doesn’t evolve tremendously but the digital backing continuously bursts and retreats artfully leaving an impression of an ever-changing landscape overlooked from a static position. And with regards to our initial question: it seems that dancing is the definite answer, if only for the sake of release.

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Twitter: @REDTAKES1