Përl ends the year on a high note.
More than four years after their last album, the Paris-based band composed of Aline Boussaroque (vocals/guitar/synthesizers), Thibault Delafosse (drums), and Bastien Venzac (bass)—accompanied live by Chris Killin (guitar/backing vocals)—unveil their new album, Architecture du Vertige.
A warm bass sound welcomes us on Royaume des Songes, quickly joined by guitars, samples, and Aline‘s soft but mysterious voice, which slowly carries us towards percussions appear, then towards oppressive saturation and screams. The track becomes much more intense, letting us catch our breath for a moment before returning to its striking post-black influences, followed by a crystalline final and Naufragée des nuages, which gets off to a flying start. The vocals transform once again, alternating between hip-hop influences and raw screams under hazy shoegaze sounds that take us on a journey through changing roots before reaching Fjara, a cover of the Icelandic band Solstafir translated into French. The melodies resonate as in the original track, and the vocalist manages to convey the melancholic mood while making the emotion her own, leaving the saxophone parts to Yannick Renaud but also offering screamed backing vocals before moving on to La chute, which starts off much more aggressively. Voicing and jerky rhythms give way to catchy simplicity before gradually reemerging, coloring the riffs with their heady but also abrasive touch before reaching Arcipelago and its rather disturbing introduction, which progresses slowly. Chris Killin‘s tortured leads captivate us when the rhythm is more dense, whether during the song’s waves of saturation or on its haunting finale, which leads to the tranquil Land’s End, where the musicians are joined by Sam Pillay (Point Mort), who briefly swaps French for English before joining Aline. While the track was fairly calm at first, the atmosphere changes as the vocalists begin to scream, then follow the pulsating rhythm before reaching Que l’éclat fasse demeure, which also begins peacefully, but which takes advantage of its airy break to finally burst into flames and offer us a moment of visceral rage, supported by a penetrating rhythm that captivates our minds until the very last moment.
I only discovered them with their previous album, but Përl made a strong impression on me, regularly featuring in my playlists. Far from resting on their laurels, the band has clearly surpassed itself with Architecture du Vertige, offering us an even vaster and more contrasting world, evidence of undeniable progress.
90/100
