I have always had a fondness for synth pop and, with the addition of a soupçon of refrigerator cool Gallic style, Ravages would therefore have had a hard time getting it wrong with their EP “Renaissance”.
It will come as no surprise that Ravages – Simon Beaudoux and Martin Chourrot – have duly exorcised all those analogue synth sounds from the days of man mascara and used them to decorate their walk through their sequenced and curiously romantic, yes romantic, reflections on the soul of the city. You might think that all that is retro cannot still be cool yet, with yesterday being the new today, logic reverses itself and, before you know it, you are wearing sunglasses at night and drinking espresso just before going to bed whilst snapping your fingers to a song like “Gamma”.
The songs, despite their robotic sequencing, never seem cold or unemotional with the title track “Renaissance” appearing far more heartfelt than anything synthetic should and I could easily imagine this being played on the cassette player of the coolest car in the universe - a Citroen SM – whilst driving through the streets of the coolest city on the planet – Paris – at night.
Laconic is the new black. Believe it!