It’s been scarcely a year since Parisian electronic producer / visual artist Raoul Sinier released his Brain Kitchen album and its accompanying Huge Samurai Radish remix collection on Ad Noiseam, but this follow-up Tremens Industry, his fourth album in total, represents a considerably different proposition. While Brain Kitchen saw Sinier out to scramble the listener’s synapses with some of his most complex and highly-edited productions to date, the thirteen tracks on Tremens Industry see him aiming more towards constructing actual ‘songs’, with the aid of his self-constructed guitar (whose construction is documented on the accompanying DVD), drums and other live instrumentation. It’s an approach that results in a refreshing new level of warmth and accessibility, where Sinier’s previous works have sometimes been more cold and forebidding, and indeed all of the tracks collected here carry an emotional tone to them often missing amongst Brain Kitchen‘s digital hyper-dexterity.
After opening track ‘Overthoughts’ sees Sinier venturing out towards Vangelis-esque territory with an epic-sounding synth overture that continually builds amidst myriad layers of arpeggios, ‘The Hole’ offers a perfect introduction to his newfound sonic aesthetic, with Sinier’s own vocals providing a fitting counterpoint to the crashing live breaks and cinematic keyboard arrangements that spiral beneath – indeed, it’s easily one of the most impressive moments to be found here. Elsewhere, ‘List Of Things’ harks back to Sinier’s more hiphop-centred ‘Wxfdswxc2’ album with its rhythmic base of cut-up MC samples, but in this case things take on a far more gothy flavour as Sinier counts of a list of dark-sounding items amidst funereal organ tones. That said however, Sinier’s increased emphasis on emotional progressions occasionally proves to be something of a two-edged sword here – while the likes of ‘Alternative Rush’ and ‘Boxes’ see him crafting epic, heart-swelling synthetic landscapes in a similar vein to Plaid, there’s a frequent sense of tension being generated with little pay-off or real resolution. Perhaps though, that’s just what Sinier wants, and with a collection this sonically impressive, he’s probably entitled to it. The accompanying DVD is certainly no less tasty, containing over two hours worth of Sinier’s excellent and frequently disturbing animations, as well as several documentaries.
Chris Downton
