Bronswick

File under Montréal: Cité Électronique

I wrote about Catherine Coutu and Bertrand Pouyet - the dark yet dreamy synth-pop duo behind Bronswick - last year. Their debut EP "Errances" was as good a collection of multi-textural synth-infused tunes as was released last year and one which deservedly featured in this Blog's year-end retrospective.
 
"Chassés-croisés" (released - bien-sûr - by Lisbon Lux) is the duo's brand new EP and another absorbing collection of their complex synth-pop that deliberately blurs the boundaries between light and dark...

The EP opens to "Comme la mer", all languid synths and echoing beats. That is until Catherine vocals take centre-stage, floating atop the tranquil soundscape that ebbs and flows much as waves gently lap along a monochromatic shoreline. Yet while her tone may be sweet, her words - reflective - are tinged with sadness and pain. So while there's an eruption of colour as sweeping synths and Catherine's honey-dripped vocals surf the song's soaring refrain, the lyrics hint at a darker future; "...Comme la mer qui brise le sol, Ma colère reprendra forme..." / "...Like the sea that breaks the ground, My anger will take form..." It's this ability to add a noirish narrative that acts as a counterpoise to their eighties-infused, hypnotic synth-pop that makes Bronswick's sound so compelling.

And layered, looping synths and beats help create another evocative aural canvas upon which "Un degré de séparation" is painted. But whereas "Comme la mer" is primarily black and white with just splashes of colour, "Un degré de séparation" paints in subtle hues, the fine brush of Catherine's breathless vocals is complemented the broad sweeps of Bertrand's deeper voice. First impressions suggest a longing ("...Son grand lit, Ses draps, Cette odeur familière..." / "...The big bed, The sheets, That familiar smell..."), but ultimately the separation of the song's title suggests a fear that will doom this relationship to futility...

Even if you hadn't listened to Bronswick's debut EP by now there should be a dawning realisation that Bronswick's bed of roses is decidedly thorny. Dark and claustrophobic, "Trouble" finds Bertrand's introspective and world-weary vocals struggling to follow the path to happiness, perfectly mirroring the dark soundtrack of repetitive beats and echoed slaps that suggest the same monochrome palette as "Comme le mer." Again, there's a soaring chorus - illuminated by Catherine's warming refrain - and for the first time I get the Mylène Farmer influence. Except, this being Bronswick the chorus isn't so much uplifting as a warning; "...Et le fruit de ton ombre, Comme le bruit de tes entrailles, Ne perd jamais une seconde, Pour te pousser hors des rails..." / "...And the fruit of your shadow, Like the noise of your loins, Never waste a second, to push you off the rails..." And while there's a blurring of metaphors in the first couple of lines, the inference is there to be seen. "Trouble" is perhaps the most striking example of the muddying of the boundaries between light and dark that is rapidly becoming Bronswick's trademark. 

And because you can never have too much of a good thing another huge gob of light and dark surfaces on "Tout effacer." There's an addictive quality to Bertrand monotonic - half spoken, half sung - lead. A melancholic affair, "Tout effacer" literally involves erasing from your life someone who presence is welcomed by their absence while any remembrance of their physical presence recedes from the senses ("...Tu brilles par ton absence, Et ton souffle s’estompe peu à peu..."). Again the song's frothy chorus - one that is firmly anchored in Eighties French Synth-pop - and Catherine's dulcet vocals pierce the gloom. Here though you get the impression that she approves the decision to "a tout effacé" and move on.

With it's notably brighter synths "Tout effacer" is more outwardly 'Pop' than the songs that precede it and the EP closes with another near-perfect slice of Synth-pop with "Insomnie." Again there's the juxtaposition between the song's pensive lyrics and the percolating synths that weave in and out of Catherine's soaring and swooning vocals... Actually lets just cut to the chase. Catherine Coutu possesses one of those deeply seductive voices that I'm just a total sucker for. A voice which at times  - such as here - has  more than a hint of Blog favourite Fanny Bloom - and a voice that appears to be tailor-made for Bertrand's evocative compositions.

Ultimately "Chassés-Croisés" is the most incredibly intelligent of records. There's a  beauty and tranquility to Bertrand's Synth-pop compositions and Catherine's silky and hypnotic vocals that is contrasted by a troubling undercurrent that manifests itself in the songs' melancholic and gloomy lyrics.

Year-list.

Bronswick
"Chassés-Croisés" (Bandcamp), (Lisbon Lux)