Les Sins
Michael
Reviewed by: Brian Roser
This is a techno album with all the baggage that entails. On second thought, I should probably call it chillwave rather than techno. I had never heard of the genre before I listened to this album, but once I looked it up, I have to admit, the label fits. Words are spoken, not sung. There are almost no lyrics and they are always sampled. The music is synthetic and I know I’ve said this before, but techno music is terribly repetitive. For all that, the beats are actually really good. The track “Past” is creepy, with a whispering in the background and those high piano notes that make me think of the theme music from the Halloween movies. Oddly, many of the other tracks have a retro, disco beat to them.
Les Sins is the name Chazwick Bradley Bundick uses for his dance music, rather than his usual nom de guerre of Toro y Moi. Why does one man have so many names? I have no idea, but he does come from South Carolina. If I made electronic synthpop in a state that still has the Confederate battle flag flying over the grounds of the State House, I’d probably not want to be known by my real name either.
I did like the album, but not for the usual reasons people will listen to it. Can you sing along to it? No, it’s techno; there are no words to sing. Can you dance to it? Okay yes you can, I mean it isn’t the thing I would dance to, but it will work at the club. For me it really shines as background music. When I write and want to shut out all other distractions, Michael is great to have come through my headphones. For this reason, the track “Don’t Bother Me, I’m Working” is definitely my favorite. In short, I think this is an album for when you are looking for more mood than meaning. Also, the cover is a deflated balloon that looks like a manic banana, which I think is a little disconcerting.
Rating: Listenable
