Lots of bands were making ethereal, hypnotically drifting, modern psychedelic pop in 2018 and lots of them were really good at it, especially those fronted by women, like
Death and Vanilla
and
Gloria
. Add to that female solo artists like
Gwenno
,
Jane Weaver
, and
Melody's Echo Chamber
and the field starts to get a little crowded. To make a record that stands out next to all the high-quality work of those artists, one would need to go a little outside the lines to add something extra. On her debut album,
Je Suis Une Ile
, the French artist
Halo Maud
(known to her parents as
Maud Nadal
) does just that. With the help of producer/multi-instrumentalist
Robin Leduc
Pablo Padovani
from
Moodoid
-- a band she played in in the early 2010s --
Benjamin Glibert
Aquaserge
, and the members of her live band (
Olivier Marguerit
Stephane Bellity
Vincent Mougel
),
Nadal
crafts a sound that is indebted to the epic psych-pop of the '60s, but also adds some oddball prog touches, a little bit of electronica here and there, and a hefty dose of the kind of space age indie that bands like
Broadcast
Stereolab
did so well in the '90s. Add
's elastic vocals, which can go from
Francoise Hardy
to
Bjoerk
in a single leap, and there's enough going on here to differentiate
from the pack. It also helps that
writes many different kinds of songs and the band is adept at coloring them in using a wide variety of colors. She's definitely got the sweeping, almost soundtrack-worthy modern psych thing nailed down, as the dramatic opener "Wherever" and the wide-open sounding "Tu Sais Comme Je Suis" show. There are also fine examples of art-damaged balladry ("Baptism") that wouldn't sound out of place on an
El Perro del Mar
record, songs with weird prog stuff going on around the edges (the guitars and bass of "Fred," the warbling vocals on "Proche Proche Proche"), and lots of very fine, hazy pop songs -- even a super hooky one, "Du Pouvoir/Power," that hijacks
Prince
's favorite drum machine in search of the perfect beat. That same song has the album's most gnarled and exciting guitar part, too, and that is what really helps make the album stand out. The sense of surprise from song to song, and sometimes within a song, keeps the listener alert and involved. That all the surprises are masterfully executed as the record flows along like a warm, lazy river is another big point in
's favor. By the time the album ends, it's clear that another name needs to be added to the list of people making impressive and occasionally brilliant modern psych pop music. ~ Tim Sendra