Electropop majesty driven by meaningful lyrics and soulful deliveries.

 

When an artist chooses to cover The Smiths like Foxtrott has done, it’s a good indication of either the artist’s musical direction or musical values. One listen to Foxtrott tells you that it’s not the musical direction – so surely it must be the musical values?

‘A Taller Us’ definitely lives up to that, with a heavy focus on meaningful lyricism that pits a heart and soul against cold electronic soundscapes. But despite this deep lyricism, Foxtrott (AKA the fantastically named Marie-Hélène Delorme) manages to avoid the pitfalls of good lyricism – the main one being that she doesn’t neglect the music itself as a result.

Every second of this track is as engaging and exhilarating as the last, with a careful attention to flow and pacing without sacrificing any . Each track stands alone as powerfully as it stands together, retaining their own distinct identities and never running the risk of blurring into a fuzz of genericism. Such is the high level of quality here that it is nearly impossible to clearly identify individual highlights or specific tracks that are strong enough to be singles.

Opening number and lead single ‘Driven’ is a key example. We’ve spoken favourably about it in the past and as it opens it’s hard to imagine a stronger introductory track than that. Then comes ‘Beyond Our Means’, a stronger track and album highlight if ever there was one. It’s steady and seductive beat and hypnotic hook get straight into your head and heart, but only really until you’re faced with the next great track.

The magic of ‘A Taller Us’ is that your favourite track will change with every track that you listen to and with each listen. It’s one thing for an album to contain no filler material and maintain a consistently hit quality, but it’s incredibly rare for a debut album to cause such a constantly shifting favouritism in the tracklisting itself.

Whether it’s the indie-twanged electropop rush of ‘Shields’ or the deep electro innovation that is ‘Colours’, there’s eleven tracks on offer here that could each become your new favourite. Foxtrott is one to watch and one to love, which isn’t difficult with a release like ‘A Taller Us’.