With the lively, pop-flavored “Prologue EP,” saxophonist Laurent Bardainne begins a chapter under his own name that feeds on the past while living in the present.
A brunette woman and a lizard-man in a red tracksuit lean on the hood of a yellow car, in front of a pink house with palm trees in the background. Their pose seems sensuous, but it conceals a game: a pistol is drawn and ready in her back. This hints at rather complex preliminaries… We don’t know what inspired Salomé Lahoche, the comic-book author, when she conceived this cover for Laurent Bardainne, who is depicted as a werewolf. Had she listened to this EP on repeat, or had she followed a wild idea? In any case, her drawing, an imagined comic-book cover, gives Prologue a look that is as engaging and colorful as it is mysterious.
After more than a quarter-century of eclecticism, the French saxophonist begins a new chapter under his own name with a program of nine brisk, energetic tracks, opened by the tempestuous “Introduction,” a jazz-ambient piece that finds its conclusion in the end with “Outro.” In between, if you set aside the three playful ten-second interludes, there are four songs that form a bouquet of promises and announce a bright future.
From modern pop that dances across genres
Following the wonderful albums by Tigre d’Eau Douce, a jazz outfit he led, Laurent Bardainne puts his name on the sleeve but does not go it alone. Twenty years after co-founding Poni Hoax, perhaps the most important French rock band of the 21st century, he reunites all his former members for the first time since the singer Nicolas Ker’s passing in 2021. Thus, Vincent Taeger (drums), Nicolas Villebrun (guitar), and Arnaud Roulin (keyboards) provide with him the rhythm, the emotion, and the groove.
Thus surrounded, driven by a desire to transcend the shelves and to slip into (almost) every playlist, Laurent Bardainne offers modern pop that dances across genres. For that, voices are also needed. Coming from the dub group Stand High Patrol, Pupajim becomes a fascinating Polnareff on the very beautiful The Power of Time. But the one heard most is Mélissa Weikart, who, like Bardainne, hails from the jazz world and is equally unbound. Comfortable with great stylistic leaps, she shines on the jaunty and brass‑driven Finest In Town, not far from LCD Soundsystem, but also on two more atmospheric tracks the new wave I Can Be Her and the melancholic This Is Your Song. During the recording itself, Bardainne and his luxurious band realized that she was dedicated to Ker. Paying tribute to his memory to open a new page almost feels like the logical move.
(Heavenly Sweetness/Idol). Release on June 19.
