Album Thoughts

I discovered Angine de Poitrine the way many people did - that first, legendary KEXP performance.

Song Notes

An impossibly strong start that’s quite hypnotic until it dramatically snaps you out.
The simple vocals are a nice way to punctuate things.

The way the music shifts around the meter here is fascinating.
I barely even notice the transition between the downbeat following the melody, but then… it’s there.

The microtones are the first here, and it kinda makes it hard to feel balanced as a listener.
It’s kinda wild that another dissonant tone helps balance it so much.
The layering is much more apparent in this track in a cool way.

This one is so hard to count! It feels right on the edge of four and five beats.
Oh, nevermind, it’s 7/4, lmao.
It’s kind of amazing how the primary melody feels like it’s on a completely separate path for so much of the song, but still manages to fall into the same sort of metronomic hypnosis.

Immediately a darker sound.
This is definitely a weird one, but it works - it feels angry and fun to scream to.

Smooth - it feels like it could be in like… the garage of a racing game or something as you’re doing vehicle select.

I think this band is maybe the most accessible introduction a person could have to uncommon meters and microtonal music.
A large part of why it works, I think, is the fact that the music is fundamentally built on the rhythm and loops, so it’s always got a place to move back to and keep the listener grounded.
The music is so percussive, which makes sense, but I just love how it punches in the chest!
Despite being done almost entirely on loop pedals, it’s incredible how musically dense and complex this album gets.