Rone
Creatures
Album · Electronic · 2015
On his third album, the French producer Erwan Castex shows his roots as a filmmaker. More varied than most electronic long-players, Creatures plays out like a series of loosely connected vignettes, taking in scene-setting synth drama of "(00)", pulsing ambient ("Acid Reflux", featuring jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo) and celestial pomp and circumstance ("Ouija," which sounds like James Holden remixing Rustie). The National's Bryce Dessner lends bluesy licks to the surging "Elle", and singer Sea Oleena adds colour to "Sir Orfeo", a swirl of jewel-encrusted cotton candy. The stylistic risk-taking recalls '90s electronica, but the sounds are as modern as they come.