“Behind the simplest things lie the deepest feelings.”
This is the motto behind French electronic duo Principles of Geometry’s latest aural salvo, “Meanstream“.
Following a trilogy of haunting full length releases that ended with 2012’s excellent, “Burn the Land and Boil the Oceans”, the mysterious duo ducked into the darkness of the studio for almost 2 years dreaming up their next gloriously trippy album for Joakim’s Tigersushi label.
A longtime fan of their work, particularly their “The Symbionese Bride” remix for Poni Hoax, I’ve always admired their unique ability to evoke John Carpenter while maintaining danceable beat.
Years back, artists on DC Recordings did a fine job of creating excellently dreadful synthscapes, but PoG creates head music you can chug to.
A big part of that is their ability to find a warm glow that Principles of Geometry seems to put in the heart of all their work.
Always looking for voices to stoke that glow, on previous albums PoG have brought on heavy hitters like Sebastien Tellier, Vast Aire (of Cannibal Ox,) Subtitle and Tonetta.
“Meanstream” feels like a VHS fever dream. Like walking down the long Sci-Fi/Action aisle of a video store and catching brief glimpses left and right of production logos, rippling muscles, lasers, sweat, fire, BMX bikes, mullets, headbands, bikinis, Uzis, neon, Aliens, UFOs, blood, Ferraris…Meanstream might not make sense to kids who’ve never experienced that, but it’s like that. And it is everything.
About a year ago, when they were deep in the dream phase of “Meanstream“, I helped link Guillaume and Jeremy with KCRW’s own Anne Litt to do VO work on the intro to the new record.
In cinematic terms, “Meanstream“ is Principles of Geometry’s “The Fog” and Anne became their Adrienne Barbeau. The intro turned out wicked as did the rest of the album, which also features vocals from 70s cult soft rock balladeers Alessi Brothers.
Unquestionably, “Meanstream” is one of the most emotive, inventive and well produced albums I’ve heard all year. And it is a seriously wavy trip.