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Avril | That Horse Must Be Starving

Death, love and falling leaves. The French way.
CD, F Communications/PIAS

Tekst: Omar Muñoz-Cremers

Publicatiedatum: 27 augustus 2002

Avril is a new artist on the F Communications label, which is renowned for releasing the highest quality of French techno. That Horse Must Be Starved stands for a somewhat obvious counter strategy, a release to broaden the palette of the label, because instead of efficient floor fillers Avril infuses techno with a heavy dose of dreampop. There seems to be something of a concept governing the album but I can't be bothered with the details. What is of interest is the way Avril sings his slow well-produced doom songs about longing, death and all that stuff in a voice that at times recalls Thom Yorke (on the predictably forlorn Eye World) and David Bowie (on Like Everybody Else). In this mode Avril gives us an interesting, somewhat accessible spin on the Kid A template, spacious pop songs buzzing with lovely and clever details. It's only when he tries to escape his drowning world for something upbeat, that Avril sounds less convincing, like on the sub-par Prince & The Revolution pastiche The Date. That Horse Must Be Starving is an album for the black-clad romantics of dance music and Radiohead fans looking for some additional fixes of gloom. Although they might raise an eyebrow when confronted with the album's centerpiece: a daring, spacious cover version of Lil' Louis' French Kiss, also known as the greatest dance track of all time. In the end an intriguing yet also vaguely unfocused album that escapes pure qualification.