Blondino doesn’t like limitations, they’re not aiming to please. Yet the first EP by the Paris-based duo (Tiphaine Lozupone & Jean-Christophe Ortega) is a very pleasurable affair.
First track Mon amie is a twangy, brass and strings-infected ballad with a movie end-credits vibe. Think Lana del Rey, produced by Calexico. Tiphaine has the same ice-blue vocal chords like Lana, but with more Birkinesque huskyness.
Next song Oslo steps into La Grande Sophie-territory, a fierce scorcher of a song. But the cherry on the cake is the electronically charged Tant qu’il y aura des hommes. The gothic Hotel Morphée’s a reference, Goldfrapp and Bashung too. Different tracks, different moods, but that’s intentional. Blondino’s named after a novel by Sture Dahlström, they’re influenced by books, movies, musical spectacles and the aforementioned bands.
A highly recommended introduction.