John-Lord Fonda – Walk Again (Album – Citizen Records)
Genre/Influences: Techno, Electro-Clash, Techno-Body.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Cyril Thévenard aka ‘John-Lord Fonda’ never expected to release a new full length after “Supersonique”. But ten years later the French producer unleashed this new opus featuring eleven new cuts.
Content: John-Lord Fonda composes Techno music with multiple influences on top. He first of all achieved an impressive production, the album revealing overwhelming, blasting sound treatments. It all remains Techno from a darker edge, but still features Electroclash reminiscences while other passages are into pure reverie, becoming pretty Cinematographic. Some of the most danceable tracks even lead the listener into Trance. A few tracks feature guest vocals by Gabriel Afahti and Veronika Nikolic.
+ + + : As I already said the work is characterized by a high-tech sound production. Not sure if John-Lord Fonda is only using hardware equipment, but the production clearly sounds this way. I was impressed by some humming bass lines and vintage/analogue sound treatments. Just pay attention to “Antarctica”, which is a total fusion between old Electroclash and Techno music. But I also recommend listening to “Les Dunes d’Altaïr” (previously released as a single), which features vocals while the structure of the song is ending in a transcendental effect. The album is also featuring cool, melodic sequences (cf. “Together Again”) and harder, bouncing passages (cf. “We Can’t Breathe”) here again with vocals on top.
– – – : It’s a pity we had to wait for such a long time to welcome a new album by this great artist. The work is diversified so you’ll all find some favorite cuts while I’m less convinced by the very few Cinematographic passages.
Conclusion: An album is more and becoming ‘old-school’, but it still remains a total work and when it’s accomplished with such passion as for “Walk Again” I think it still makes sense to go on releasing it.
Best songs: “Antarctica”, “Les Dunes d’Altaïr”, “Together Again”, “We Can’t Breathe”, “Race For Nothing”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/johnlordfondaofficial
Label: www.citizen-records.com / www.facebook.com/citizenrecords
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