Following the release of Igorrr’s Amen on September 19th, many long-time fans of the group noticed a shift in their musical approach. Compared to its predecessors, Amen feels less like an overstimulating maelstrom and more like a regular metal record. Jarring genre switchups and searing breakbeats used to be the band’s bread and butter, but now Igorrr’s mastermind Gautier Serre seems to favor more focused songwriting and atmosphere. Key songs like “Headbutt” and “Infestis”, for example, are among the more predictable pieces in the whole discography. As EIN’s own Steve Loschi praises in his killer review of Amen, the manic spirit of Igorrr does still show up throughout the album, and the blend of baroque, Middle Eastern music, and electronica with extreme metal remains distinct. When I listen to the new track “ADHD” however, a track devoted to neurodivergent restlessness, and compare it to an older track like “Absolute Psalm” or “Tendon”, I can’t help but feel like the madness has deflated over time.
Igorrr may have taken their music in a more tame direction, but some previous collaborators and contemporaries of Serre have retained or even augmented their insanity. On October 2, breakcore and cybergrind legend (and previous Igorrr tourmate) Drumcorps put out For Everything, a vitriolic punk barrage from front to back. The very next day, Ruby My Dear, solo project of Frenchman Julien Chastagnol, released Confiture À La Plage. Chastagnol last collaborated with Igorrr on 2014’s Maigre, and has since honed the art of zany chicanery. With Confiture À La Plage, he has usurped the throne of whimsical and infectious breakcore/folktronica/metal/jazz/classical/x/y/et cetera.
Chastagnol’s music as Ruby My Dear has always had a wild bent to it, and has only grown more strange with time. His first two albums, 2012’s Remains of Shapes to Come and 2013’s Form, pushed the IDM envelope with diverse sounds and unpredictable songwriting. His collaboration with Igorrr in 2014 apparently planted a seed of deeper insanity, because each subsequent Ruby My Dear album has proven more diverse and volatile. 2018’s Brame saw the addition of metal and grindcore to the sonic palette, as well as jazz/swing, and an absurd sense of humour. With À Dada in 2022, Chastagnol pushed the envelope further than he may have been ready for. It went into so many directions at once that it felt lost, a bit overburdened by its own whimsy. With Confiture À La Plage, he takes on the same load of sounds and ideas, but this time succeeds in crafting compelling compositions with them, which will leave any fan of Ruby My Dear or Igorrr entertained.
Before I discuss the individual highlights on this album, I have to describe the musical patterns which hold it together, because its subversiveness becomes artful through structure. Many of these songs follow a formula. First, some clean instruments play a charming theme. Then that theme is eagerly dissected, chopped and augmented with frenetic drill and bass. This strange concoction forms the base of the song, and many other musical tangents, be they metal/grindcore, jazz, manic ramblings, or more. At any point in the album, it is unclear what will happen next, but the spirit of each song holds together, and it is thus that madness becomes music.
The album begins like a circus act with “Petit Poney”. First, an organ interplays with drum and bass, then we hear applause, and an announcer declares that a great spectacle shall take place. The rest of the song is a proud proclamation of tomfoolery. Synth-driven metal, rave bass drops, and even jungle appear, but the organ theme from the beginning holds the entire song together. The drum-and-bass percussion is uncontrollable, and constant. Is this mix obtuse, even obnoxious? Yes, but it’s deeply entertaining, and that’s the spirit that carries us throughout Confiture À La Plage.
As the tracks go by, Confiture À La Plage confirms its commitment to frolicking whimsy. Every piece is like a jaunt through a fresh corner of Candyland™, especially in the middle of the album. “J’adore Le Soleil” is a walk on a Hawaiian beach, and “Bellissima” and “Plein de Moi” feel like sailing down a river made out of caramel, looking at rows of truffula trees from The Lorax. As always, drill and bass trickery pulls these songs in insane directions, but they always return to their bucolic foundations. It is at this point in the album that it begins to feel consistent. Though they all achieve it in different ways, each song has a through-line of absurd joy and summertime bliss, which synergize with the album’s title and artwork.
The most amusing piece on this album is the eighth, “Saint Patron”. It is framed by a conversation between two French-speaking would-be dance partners at a grand ball. With voices that ooze middle class naiveté, they discuss their favorite forms of dance, and when they announce a new style of dance, the music changes up its instrumentation completely. Sadly the musical changes do not correspond to the type of dance announced, but every new section still feels like your partner has swept you off your feet in a new way.
Across its 11 tracks, Confiture À La Plage straddles the line between art and obnoxious joke. In the end, it is able to turn its goofiness into enjoyable music through very creative songwriting and a delicate sense of dynamics. It’s truly a study in contrasts. Though every song has its jarring moments, each returns to a simpler instrumental base often enough to ease the shock. Though each has a half-dozen different styles at play, they share melodic themes which somehow tie it all together. All of this is to say that this album is wildly entertaining, wildly creative, and a must-listen in genre-fusing breakcore this year.
