Playful and serious with their composition, concise and panoramic in their output and secretive in their public persona, Parisian duo Acid Washed (Richard D’Alpert and Andrew Claristidge) have here created a dense, multi-faceted record, the melancholic, multiple personalities creating a fine collection of songs.
The analogue sounds of the Moroder/Italo Disco/DFA-inspired tracks give a unique, natural feel to the overall aesthetic , and are dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century via Pro Tools and perhaps the supervision of Phoenix collaborator Christophe Chassol, alongside DFA associate and Berlin based producer Xaver Von Treyer. It is this determined, focused and anachronistic production method that gives this album an edge over its techno contemporaries.
Track highlights such as the pulsating, atmospheric ‘Change’ and the dreamy ‘Concorde in the Sunrise’ attest to a love of playful percussion, while synth lines fly down like shooting stars amongst the rising tension of the driving bass lines below. Melodies, moods come and go with casual aplomb and one can’t help but get a less-robotic-Daft Punk vibe from the album’s instrumental first half.
Vocalists Christian Kreunz (ex Dakar and Grinser member), Lippie and Barbara Panther (from France and Germany respectively) are both introduced later in the album, but to mixed results. Despite the welcome human element – especially the staccato attitude of Lippie – they sometimes serve only to distract from the organic, perhaps more interesting and evocative minimalist disco sounds vying for our attention in the background. However, given the German techno influence apparent in this album, Kalkbrenner, Koletzki and Kompakt fans alike will find these individual tracks more than suitable additions to their hard drives, or as Acid Washed would prefer it, their vinyl collection.
The multiple personalities of D’Alpert and Claristidge are reflected in a cross section of their recent, well received remixes, ranging from Kelis to labelmate, the intriguing and sensual Sebastian Tellier (who they should definitely collaborate with), through to Wolfmother. Hopefully this wide-eyed outlook will continue to make a name for Acid Washed in years to come – here’s hoping they are able to balance their night and day incarnations (this is still apparently a part time venture) in an equally uncomplicated fashion.
