Avril – That Horse Must Be Starving

Does Fred Avril’s debut, THAT HORSE MUST BE STARVING, signal a new direction for one of the most consistent electronic labels in the world, F-Communications? The album approaches IDM with a French twist, a heretofore unexplored area in the F-Communications catalog. But, really, the attention to songcraft aligns it more with A Reminiscent Drive than Squarepusher. “Velvet Blues,” despite the clattering noise, is still at heart all about the sad strings. “The Date” channels Serge Gainsbourg with a sequencer and a penchant for distortion -- pop experimentalism, I love it (it pops up again on “Like Everybody Else”). “Eye World” is a love song filtered through an IDM prism. The remake of Li’l Louis classic “French Kiss” comes off a little bit contrived, despite its beautiful beginning. The thumping beat of “Big Wheel II,” however, gives it an interesting texture when compared to the twisting sounds of the songs the precede (“Double Mind”) and follow it (“Global Headphones”). I’m digging this new direction for F-Communications.