Description
'Dromonia', the second album from Parisian duo Bracco, made up of Loren - drumsticks in hand, busy working machines and synths - plus Baptiste, guitar-strapped, singing with the mic close to disappear in his throat, to make words come out right (those Cramps' VHS tapes have left their mark).
Built in a French garage/punk band (Los VV's), the guitar sound is harsh and precise. Baptiste deals with verticality, Loren with space: building fast with crappy materials but high hopes.
Bracco has the kind of smooth and wet skin labels can't stick to. Still, they let their music be haunted by ghosts of the dark wave family. They fancy Psychic TV, DAF, Suicide, Throbbing Gristle. Music veterans will note that Bracco has that distinctive sound of pivotal periods when everything gets dicey (the day guitar made its way into techno, that moment when punks learned a fourth chord, the night the Happy Mondays entrusted Bez with maracas). That path is paved with brave records. "Sunshine" and "Secretly Dancing" are good examples of that stateless crossover where the guitar/drums treatment is a success.
The clinical and efficient mix of producer Marc Portheau helps give the tracks the industrial treatment. Lauriane, from shoegazers Bryan's Magic Tears, joined them for a vocal on "Be a Boy". "Cobra Music", the first single, which is a favourite of their live shows, is one of those marathon tracks built to be played to exhaustion.