La Fin De L'economie

Following a live recording and an album containing interpretations of pieces by 20th century composers like Morton Feldman and Edgard Varese, La Fin de leconomie is the first full-length of original Aquaserge material since 2017s Laisse ca etre. Pared down to a five-person lineup, the group sound more like a conventional rock band than ever, but only relative to their jazzier and more avant-garde work. They still evoke Krautrock and the Canterbury scene as well as French pop and Morricone soundtracks, and they still construct songs with complex time signatures and dissonant elements. Still, theres a directness that sets this album apart from their others. Opener "Le Saut du Tigre" has a heavy synth crunch resembling a more polyrhythmic Depeche Mode, while the lyrics suggest a departure from the ideas of the past. "Je Suis Galaxie" is a fun blast of Motorik prog with lyrics exploring dualities between gender identities. The album calms down considerably with the gentle, spacious "A Plus," and "Incendies" starts out softly before switching to Moondog-like percussion, group chanting, and abrasive sax skronk. "Miso" is angular art-punk with dirty guitar distortion and deceptively smooth vocals during its middle section, and "LPT," another brief protest song, has tense organs and drums intercut with tapes of sirens, occasionally bursting into noisy hardcore and lyrics sharply translating to "the police kill." "Amerikaine" is a longer, more cinematic instrumental with slow-burning guitars and clarinets. The group allude to late capitalism on the albums title track, yet they dont particularly seem surprised that the end is near. La Fin de leconomie uses subtle humor and playfulness to acknowledge the state of the world and suggest how to deal with it and move forward. ~ Paul Simpson