This is the third album from busy Joakim Bouaziz, whose previous releases have included euro-disco singles on the tres chic French label Tigersushi as well as a couple of well received albums including 2003’s Fantomas which has become something of a sleeper modern classic. At least for me. Monsters & Silly Songs introduces a much wider palette of sounds and ideas into Joakim’s repertoire than his previous club-friendly output would suggest. Smack in the middle of the album is Drumtrax, the compulsory big electrodance single: fast-slow-fast tempo change, chunked up percussion and hooky 303 arpeggios. The remainder of the album is far more obtuse and beguiling: bittersweet melancholy in tracks like “Lonely Hearts” betrays poppish ye-ye heritage. “Wish You Were Gone” is a bouncy Giorgio Moroder homage, the version on the album is a shortened vocal mix, hunt down the instrumental for complete nouvelle disco inferno. “Rocket Pearl” is funky guitar rock underscored by sensible drums. Other moments on the album stretch from synthie footstompers to pastoral instrumental vignettes to impressionistic sketches of piano and fx; the album covers a huge sonic territory without sounding cluttered or confused. Instead it sounds personal and charming, an intimate voyage into Joakim Bouaziz’s busy world.
Vaughan Healey
