MARIE DAVIDSON 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Montreal-based producer Marie Davison's fourth full length was her most self-reflective to date. This reissue reminds us of how it found the artist serving up plenty of introspection after a year spent living in Berlin. It comments on the stresses and strains of working on the dance music world and of a life in club culture. It is an immersive and absorbing world of synth heavy beauty that builds on previous dance floor orientated material with new sounds. Italo disco, proto-industrial and electro all feature with plenty of hefty bottom ends.

Review: Though now famed as a top-drawer live performer with a string of acclaimed albums to her name, there was a time when Marie Davidson's music was less widely appreciated. In fact, when this eponymous EP first appeared on cassette in 2013, she was pretty much unknown. As you'd expect, it's perhaps a little more lo-fi than some of her more recent work, but that's what makes the EP so appealing. Check, for example, the sleazy vocals, distant drum hits and cascading melodies of creepy opener "Ma Vie Sans Moi", the unsettling lead lines, ricocheting cymbal hits and powerful drone bassline of "L'unique" and the dystopian, high-tempo minimal wave-goes-bleep techno trip that is "Le Lieu Ou Vous Voulez Vous Rendre"; all three remain amongst Davidson's most arresting cuts to date.

Review: Given the underground acclaim heaped on Marie Davidson's previous albums - ultra-stylish affairs that blend elements of minimal wave, dark Italo-disco, off-kilter electro and moody ambient - it's little surprise to see her popping up on Minimal Wave offshoot Cititrax. The album's nine tracks are largely sharp, rough and fuzzy, with sparse-but-dense drum machines rhythms underpinning bouncy, delay-laden synth lines, thrusting electronics and Davidson's sleazy, spoken word vocals. It's an attractive combination that guarantees thrills throughout, from the almost claustrophobic throb of "Denial", to the mutant electrofunk bounce of "Good Vibes".