Raoul Sinier - Death, Love & Despair [WXFDSWXC9]

Coming back with his first album after a two years break on October 26th, 2k18 is French composer and painter Raoul Sinier, releasing the ninth longplay piece in his career and as well as the ninth subsequent number in the cryptically named WXFDSWXC-series which somehow is related to the artists 2007-released album on Sublight Records. Entitled "Death, Love & Despair" the album holds a total of eleven tracks, starting with "Introduction" which offers classics Synth melodies with programmed, shuffled Rock drums and dense stereo field experimentations before "Party Strangers" combines tender SynthPop and hefty Electronic Rock in a quite interesting way and the "Invisible Giant" even touches borders of Metal and Industrial Rock musically whereas Raoul Sinier's vocal performance and tender pianos unravel heartfelt, fragile romanticism for intimate hours. Taking a "Night Ride" we're sinking deep into the concrete heart of a broken city organism, "Table Rase" amalgamates Spoken Word-storytelling and extremely off-kilter vocal performance, "Souls Delight" brings on extreme distortion orgies and more 80s-infused Panorama Pop vocals before "La Comptine Des Cafards" combines SynthWave-vocals with muscular drumming and high end drama, "Cycle De Pierre" harks back to classical piano melodies which run in waves against the current flow of the rest of the track, therefore strangely evoking echoes of memories of Soft Cell and Jimy Sommerville / Bronski Beat for some obscure reasons whilst offering more epic, Trance-synths and a brutal wall-of-sound breakdown towards the tunes' end whilst tossing the "Lucky Coin" means more drama and a feeling of burning all bridges on a cold winters day. Finally "Stay Down (We Fly Part III)" touches ballad'esque, inward looking sci-fi realms before a wall of midrange synths and distortions blows everything away and the concluding "Conclusion" weighs in a big portion of Crossover and Funk and shuts things down as our favorite tune on this highly unique longplayer. Worthwhile. Check!

Album artwork on Instagram!