La Battue - Farrago (2023)

Some artists seem to carry within them the secret of contagious jubilation and conquering grace. In this little game, La Battue comes out with flying colors. After three remarkable EPs, these emulators of Local Natives or Phoenix finally released the first album: Farrago. A harvest of the hopes sown since 2018, the disc makes heard, beyond the vocal harmonies, the fusional elegance of a trio which knew how to impose in ten titles its radiant and unassuming sophistication.

At the front of the stage, Ellie James and Yurie Hu, choir sisters, mix their voices with the keyboards, while Bertrand, Ellie's brother, drives the rhythm on the drums. Bertrand has played among others in Totorro, Yurie in Yacht Club, Ellie always collaborates with Mermonte, these different experiences reaching their point of incandescence here.

Based in Rennes, this blended family deploys its imagination which draws as much from the Beach boys as from Steve Reich, seizes electro to extract its organic quintessence, works on echoes and melodic clarity.

We sometimes come across the hovering shadow of Para One or the symphonic peaks of Grizzly Bear, with voices raised in majesty and a fierce pop generosity.

“Try to see the light in me” (“Try to see the light in me”) proclaims the first track of the album. From the first listen, it's all seen.