heterotic - weird drift lp

This time album features the vocals of a Vezelay, a.k.a. French singer and producer Matthieu Le Berre, who brings a gentle poised falsetto to the duo’s productions along with a delicate but hopeful angst. ‘Weird Drift’ has a restrained and varied sense of emotional drama, but also a deeper sense of happiness, or at least the sense of becoming happy that was only hinted at on the first record. This can be heard in the breathy vocal harmonies of ballad ‘Rain’, in the building arpeggios, open guitar chords and skittering, trappish hi-hats of ‘Boxes’ or ‘Lumber’s industrial drum tattoo, it's sad chords set against Matthieu's anxious, delay-smothered vocals. The album switches mood with the nostalgic, dewy Rhodes and recorder of ‘Liverpool‘, acting as a brief impressionistic pallet cleanser before the grinning bounce of ‘Sultana’, which has the kind of melody (and keyboard solo!) not heard from Mike since his collaboration ‘Mike and Rich’ with Richard ‘Aphex Twin’ James.