Published by Davide Pappalardo on April 16, 2016
We left the Spanish-French duo Adan & Ilse (a.k.a the French Michel Lecamp of Usher and the Spanish naturalized French Pedro Penas Robles of the industrial project HIV+) one year ago with the success of their album Cold Diamonds, and soon we find them again with Chirurgie Plastique, the work we are going to review. We have a sore note too, because the duo has decided to disband after the publication of this work; here we have an epitaph which closes the short rise of this project started in 2012 with some EP and remixes. A path made of minimal electronic music not always in a dark fashion, often rather ethereal and vast, with a dreamy French touch.
A sound characterized by evocative synths, distant vocals, crawling and structured rhythms, and some soft guitar arpeggios. The vocals, the most of them under the tutelage of Robles, are layered on the sound structure with an elegant patience, often in a sensual way, even recalling the French pop tradition and their lounge and soft electronic music, giving us a project that is not necessarily linked with a difficult underground sound. Anyway we have here even some more energetic and dark numbers, with some dancefloor oriented moments, but everything is controlled and based on minimal and retro atmospheres; synth pop choruses from the 80’s and cosmic lines have here their place, just as much as enthralling grooves for an electronic ballet and melancholic dance tracks.
Blind perfectly sums up the first face of the band, with its limpid sounds and distant choruses, upon which a slow and rhythmic drum machine is layered, accompanied by soft arpeggios and charming narrative vocals; we could even say that the atmospheres dear to the French group Air are here evoked, with a not really aggressive sound, completed by piano keys in a sensual prolonged mantra, giving us a dreamy loop full of angelic elements.
Sin of sin changes the route giving us a 4/4 rhythmic crescendo, which generates electronic and repeated groovy beats, upon which a strong rhythm and melodic elements are layered with some strong moments, in a misty atmosphere; grandiose synth openings give us some refrains ala Visage with many recalls of the techno pop music of the most energetic kind.
Energy plays with some techno influences mixing reverberations and synthetic punches, in an underlined crescendo with ethereal lines and synths with melodic and charming melodies; the given structure repeats itself with refrains made to be followed like a mantra, meeting then some higher cosmic melodic soundwaves.
At the end of the album some remixes are placed, and some of them are taken from the recent past of the band; so Like me becomes an electro number with a strong drum machine and nightly soundscapes, thanks to Electrosexual, while Lost overdrive is reworked by Neon Electronics in a French house episode ala Daft punk, completed by groovy synths with an enthralling movement. Voice in blue is filtered by danceable layer thanks to Theremynt, with cutting well crafted minimal elements, until the explosion of distortions that ends the track, while Sun king has even two interpretations; the first one by Haujobb give us their hypnotic style, focused here on the rhythmic layers and the voice effects, without forgetting in the second part of the song enthralling tensions which are controlled effectively, while the second one by Phllox gives us a synthwave version for an imaginary 80’s movie flick, where cosmic structures and 4/4 rhythms have their place. The end is marked by a hallucinogenic Red star, reworked by In death it ends in a dark version where grim effects and electronic dense rhythms dominate, and by a Super star interpreted by Mark Theis as a vortex of enthralling basslines and techno movements made to make us move our heads following the rhythm.
A hybrid work between an actual album and a remix compilation, thanks to the many final remixes; a final statement where the sound of the duo shows its different forms, between conventional sections, even chill out movements, some rhythmic incursions in a techno pop landscape, and the well dosed use of guitar arpeggios and melancholic cosmic lines. The final reworks give us many dancefloor oriented moments, not only for the alternative crowd, showing us an important aspect of the project, the exhaustive use of remixes; something for anyone we could say, but we don’t have to think about some dark album with a coldwave connotation, here the focus is more on “solar” electronic elements and a repeated rhythmic structure and less on grim soundscapes. It doesn’t mean that evocative and melodic synths are not allowed, they are often used by them. So, goodbye, with a final episode that puts egregiously and end to this project, hoping that both of them will soon return to music with new musical emanations.
Label: Unknown Pleasures Records
Rating: 7
Chirurgie Plastique [electronic synth wave] (UPR 042) – Compact Disc by ADAN & ILSE