Album

Straight away, Portrait De L’Artiste, the second album from Gatineau’s cheekily-named Album, feels far murkier and slipperier than their self-titled debut. Where Album, issued on Telephone Explosion in 2021, audibly extended the sonic universe established by co-founder Olivier Fairfield in his previous outfit FET.NAT (taut, sliced-up beat collages and smeared samples) their forthcoming successor forges a completely distinct, albeit enigmatic, identity.

Fairfield (also known for his work in Last Ex, Timber Timbre, and H. De Heutz) and his co-conspirator Simone Provencher (of VICTIME infamy) are well aware of how elusiveness can be wielded persuasively. Together they leverage the allure of this music’ss cryptic surface to draw listeners into a verdant landscape of meticulously psychedelic detail.

Since their inception, Album has always drawn upon a wide and peculiar array of influences, making their inimitable sound a difficult one to describe. On Portrait de l’artiste they intentionally embrace aspects of jazz, but contrary to expectation, this only makes their unclassifiable essence more apparent.