Sébastian Tellier - Sexuality (Record Makers)

Sebastian Tellier's genre hopping ways has found him here, at erotic, sleazy synth pop. I say sleazy, but in truth the album contains just as much dignity, emotion, and creativity to render this much more than a gimmick of any kind. The album (produced by one half of Daft Punk) kicks off slow and sexy, and doesn't let up from there. Tracks like Kilometer and Pomme take the erotica one step further even, fashioning choruses or background out of female moans, caught in the middle of some sonic orgasm. Changes in the album occur infrequently, but when the do, as with the longer, more dance oriented number Sexual Sportswear, it is quite noticable. This is most obvious with the final beatless piano piece L'Amour Et La Violence, that starts out innocently enough with a meandering almost tunless piano, which quickly evolves into a heartbreaking melody that comes to ground Tellier's sweeping vocal that slowly builds and builds until you find yourself suddenly looking up to the speakers out of curiosity to what has made these tears well in your eyes so unexpectedly. Tellier sings of his passion for both love and violence in our modern world, perhaps a commentary for our violent, yet peace obsessed world, but this particular album, it's all love.