S16

Though nearly a decade separates Woodkids The Golden Age and S16, its almost impossible to tell at first. Arriving seven years after his 2013 debut album, Yoann Lemoines second full-length is very much of a piece with his previous work; his songs still have so much musical and emotional richness that they feel like miniature symphonies. S16s opening track, Goliath, is pure Woodkid: its bone-rattling beats and heroic strings evoke the giants menace and Davids bravery as well as Lemoines own epic battle between toughness and vulnerability. He explored similar territory on The Golden Ages tale of a boy who turns himself into marble, and while S16 is less overtly conceptual than that album, it often feels more cohesive as Woodkid examines the crisis points of his relationships with others and himself. On Drawn to You, the first hints of attraction are just as wrenching as a breakup; on Highway 27, Lemoine sets the sinking realization that love is gone to stark, choppy percussion that makes for some of the albums most audacious sound design. Reactor is just as impressive, combining a childrens choir, piano, and strings in a theatrical sweep that echoes Woodkids score for the dance piece Les Bosquets. His songwriting on S16 is equally compelling in its clear-eyed insights into the spiritual and sensual dimensions of yearning and loss. Lemoine captures the ache of being loved by someone without being fully understood by them in the elegantly simple lyrics from In Your Likeness: I know Im not made in your likeness/Youre not made for my darkness. On Pale Yellow, he sings, My love for you will be gone/I will fix the pain on my own like a wish instead of a certainty, and if his vocals are slightly more controlled here than they were in the Golden Age days, that only makes them more empathetic. Just when it feels like the album might be too dour, Lemoine turns up the heat with So Handsome Hello, a seductive, commanding standout that delivers a seismic shift in mood. Moments like these make S16 worth the long wait for fans, and show that the scope and humanity of Woodkids music has only grown with time. ~ Heather Phares