I went into this french minimal wave thing expecting nothing, then realized all the eccentric talent that had played a part in it (from Gilbert Artman to Guigou Chenevier, by way of Cyril Lefebvre and Jean-Pierre Grasset) and got excited, only to end up being more deflated by its incipient electronic dabblings.
Sure, its whole demeanour, like that of someone shrugging their shoulders at everything and going 'bof', may bear some of the allure that aloofness holds over those souls who believe that they deserve no better, or that unattainability is what determines the inherent value of things; and the basic interplay between short-circuiting synths and electric guitars does show some potential; but then it just seems like they can't be bothered to do much with it because, I don't know, l'ennui?... Maybe.
Regardless of the more or less facetious reasons why, the inclusion of a number like "Tina", with its electronic gusts blowing trippy guitar lines up into the air, is enough to show that they could have tried a bit harder on the rest, to rather more satisfying results (maybe they did on their first LP... I'll have to check it out at some point).
In the meantime, a CD reissue of this only reinforced that point as, among its abundant bonus tracks, we can find another one, "صحراء", whose (as advertised) arabic atmosphere, both rarefied and effective, can't help but further highlight that crucial artistic distinction to be had, between adhering to a minimal aesthetic, and just being a little bit lazy (though I can sympathize).
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