The French hip-hop scene is one of the most productive
in the world, yet it often remains confined to French-speaking
territories. Paris-based Depth Affect have adopted a
different approach by choosing to focus on largely instrumental
hip-hop-infused electronica and concentrate on refining
their sound and find the right angle for their music
to become totally universal.
Formed in September 2004 in Lorient, Brittany, a town
better known for its maritime heritage than for its
contribution to music, Depth Affect is a quartet comprising
two musicians, one DJ and one VJ. The band released
a first download-only EP, Mesquin, on Autres
Directions In Music in 2004, and have, since, relentlessly
toured and recorded. The result, Arche-Lymb,
is a rather impressive slab of acerbic cut’n’paste
electronica sprinkled with an extra helping of chunky
hip-hop bits. The format might not be original, but
the band certainly know how to make a mark. What they
do, they do very well. The album opens with the rather
inviting and playful Honey Folky, and Depth
Affect instantly set the tone. Full of twists, turns,
false starts and glorious endings (at least three),
this track is like a food processor that’s gone
into overdrive, a maelstrom of ideas. It is at once
fresh as pop and gritty as West-Coast hip-hop, yet it
has nothing to do with either. As the album progresses
and Depth Affect stick more of their wacky tracks on
the walls of the listener’s imagination, the plot
thickens. This tastes of folk, but folk it ain’t,
that feels like techno, but it is too fucked up…
Depth Affect play with their audience, and one would
be ill-advised to try and dissuade them. With lyrical
backing from Cyne (One Day Or So) and Anticon’s
Alias (the stunning Wyoming Highway), Depth
Affect build a very personal sonic universe in which
glitches and breaks cohabit in perfect harmony. Whatever
the quartet throw themselves into, they manage to make
total sense of it.
There are traces of Wagon
Christ, Boom Bip
or DJ Vadim to be found scattered all over Arche-Lymb,
but the band create a very personal sound and manage
to remain consistent all the way through, despite constantly
jumping from one genre to the next. Depth Affect expertly
juxtapose flavours and mix emotions to come up with
the most colourful and rich combinations. Arche-Lymb
doesn’t pretend to be a clever record but it ends
up being more pertinent than most.
4.2/5 |
