cobl04
45:33
Petite Noir is an artist I discovered recently, through Pitchfork I think. I can't really remember. Anyway, it is the pseudonym for Yannick Ilunga, who hails from South Africa, and he is a synth/pop-rock artist in the vein of Bloc Party and TV on the Radio.
Earlier this year he released The King of Anxiety EP and recently he just released his debut album La Vie Est Belle. It is pretty good and has some good tunes; Freedom and Seventeen (Stay) are early album highlights, but overall it is a bit generic and disappointing. Colour (spelled as such because he uses the Queen's English like good people in the civilised world do) has a brief instrumental section that builds and builds and is truly wonderful but unfortunately reaches an unsatisfactory climax. Just Breathe is probably the poppiest and most accessible track but it, too, really leads to nowhere.
I'm not really selling him well at the moment but I make this thread because I think there's a lot of promise. The King of Anxiety EP is a much better option but I haven't been able to get to know it as much because it doesn't have a physical release containing lyric booklet and I'm a fuckwit.
But what I can tell you, what I can promise you, is that there is goodness here. La Vie Est Belle, if for absolutely nothing else, is most assuredly worth it for the final song, "Chess" (though it is also present on the EP). Yes, it follows a well-worn pattern of six-minute slow-burn songs about relationships and will remind you of "All My Friends" and "Ion Square", but Petite Noir pulls it off with absolute aplomb - he really extends his vocal abilities on this song and they combine masterfully with the multitude of guitars, drums, electronic percussion, backing vocals and much more, resulting in what is easily one of my favourite songs of 2015.
I urge you all to check him out, he's an artist I'll be keeping a very firm eye on for years to come.
Earlier this year he released The King of Anxiety EP and recently he just released his debut album La Vie Est Belle. It is pretty good and has some good tunes; Freedom and Seventeen (Stay) are early album highlights, but overall it is a bit generic and disappointing. Colour (spelled as such because he uses the Queen's English like good people in the civilised world do) has a brief instrumental section that builds and builds and is truly wonderful but unfortunately reaches an unsatisfactory climax. Just Breathe is probably the poppiest and most accessible track but it, too, really leads to nowhere.
I'm not really selling him well at the moment but I make this thread because I think there's a lot of promise. The King of Anxiety EP is a much better option but I haven't been able to get to know it as much because it doesn't have a physical release containing lyric booklet and I'm a fuckwit.
But what I can tell you, what I can promise you, is that there is goodness here. La Vie Est Belle, if for absolutely nothing else, is most assuredly worth it for the final song, "Chess" (though it is also present on the EP). Yes, it follows a well-worn pattern of six-minute slow-burn songs about relationships and will remind you of "All My Friends" and "Ion Square", but Petite Noir pulls it off with absolute aplomb - he really extends his vocal abilities on this song and they combine masterfully with the multitude of guitars, drums, electronic percussion, backing vocals and much more, resulting in what is easily one of my favourite songs of 2015.
I urge you all to check him out, he's an artist I'll be keeping a very firm eye on for years to come.
