This Friday, March 6, you’ll also find in stores the records by Michel Houellebecq & Frédéric Lo and 15 15.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy We Are Together Again (Domino/Sony Music)
Will Oldham is once again at his best with an album that elevates his country-folk with backing choirs drawn from Leonard Cohen. The ten songs that compose this new phase of his enormous discography (more than twenty releases under the alias Bonnie “Prince” Billy since I See a Darkness in 1999) constitute the most perfect demonstration of Oldham’s talent.
By Rémi Boiteux.
Read the Review of We Are Together Again.
Michel Houellebecq & Frédéric Lo Souvenez-vous de l’homme (Water Music)
With a timbre both dull and delicate, Houellebecq’s voice is accompanied by a musical backdrop that exudes undeniable melodic elegance. This is evidenced, among other pieces, by Ils chevauchaient le vent, an arrangement of purity and lyricism, adorned with female choirs, which evokes the posthumous Bashung of En amont. As the title inadvertently declares, Souvenez-vous de l’homme reminds us of everything we cherished about Michel Houellebecq, and it confirms the wonderful surprises that Frédéric Lo can conjure, even against wind and tide.
By Sophie Rosemont.
Read the review of Souvenez-vous de l’homme.
Marlon Magnée Dark Star (Disque Pointu/Idol)
The French artist makes no secret of it: The tracks on my solo album could easily have appeared on a La Femme record, while still allowing himself some sideways detours. After fifteen years with La Femme, whose final concert at the Accor Arena took place on November 26, a solo debut was overdue for its most flamboyant member, the co-founder and vocalist Marlon Magnée.
By Sophie Rosemont.
Read the review of Dark Star.
Morrissey Make-Up Is a Lie (Sire Records/WEA)
When exactly was Morrissey’s last major album released? Probably Ringleader of the Tormentors, his eighth record released twenty years ago, a lifetime in pop terms. After six years of silence due to repeated contractual entanglements with the music industry, punctuated only by the excellent single Rebels Without Applause (2022), the Manchester singer found refuge at Sire Records (the famous label founded in 1966, another anniversary), where his solo career began.
By Franck Vergeade.
Read the critique of Make-Up Is a Lie.
15 15 Mārara (S76/Wagram)
Since the group’s inception in 2013, their scavenger-hunt approach has been part of the DNA of the ensemble formed by Tsi Min, Ennio, Julia, Robin, and his brother Marvin. With these masterful lab technicians, sound researchers, and renovators of Polynesian oral traditions (within which Tsi Min and Ennio grew up), all sonic explorations find their place, winding and communicating within Mārara, the fictional island that lends its name to 15 15’s debut album.
By Théo Dubreuil.
Read the review of Mārara.
