French elektronica outfit Zombie Zombie is fifteen years old now, or 90 years in group-years (multiply by six: more than a cat, less than a dog). That would have been enough to rest on their laurels, with an Old Fashioned in each hand. But no: they went for full-on fat and a reverberated doomy elektro orgy. This time some choirwork hints at the arrangements of David Axelrod or Ennio Morricone, but still here's everything we love about Zombie Zombie, starting with their musical know-how, and the trio's musical tastes, which covers 95% of the styles listed by Discogs. Decidedly, Vae Vobis is not your average 122 bpm banger party soundtrack, although we are looking forward to seeing what DJs can do with Nusquam and Ubique" on a drunk crowd in tie-and-dye gowns. It's a well-balanced alum, worth listening to in one go, to let each trap-of-a-track work its magic. E.g. Ring Modulus, which, under its strong structure, houses extended-vocal-technique ornaments. Or Aurora, a megalomaniac jewel cut to open the circus games, the brass section of Dr Schönberg and Etienne Jaumet plays it peplum style. But let your ears marvel at Dissolutum, Consortium and the remainig tracks as well. Also digging backwards in the italo-disco crates, ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ended up in antiquity. As a result, they sing in Latin. Not the godforsaken mumbo-jumbo of the new age band era. Proper Latin, borrowed at Erasmus, by hiring a neo-Latinist to sequence the adages neatly. Until now, Zombie Zombie mostly pushed the song for covers (Iggy Pop, Sun Ra or New Order). For this new album, they built long harmonic progressions, along which sing Angele Chemin, a soprano familiar with contemporary music, and Laura Etchegoyhen, Swiss army knife of Basque origin. You know it, even if you haven't worn out your bottoms on the pews of a church: Latin sings well. "We wanted to remain mysterious, to send cryptic messages, to dive back into a language from another time, like the copyist monks of the Middle Ages". And like their hooded ancestors, they do whatever they want with the text, and add porn illuminations in the corners, for those who know how to listen closely.
RIYL: John Carpenter, Cliff Martinez, Trentemoller, Darkside, Zombi, Goblin, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, 80s Synthwave, Soundtracks, Elektro