2 good, 2 whacky…
There is always something chilled, laid back and slightly experimental from the music that comes out of France. Well that is my view anyway, and Metafonik are no different. Here with their 4 track EP the band from Paris give us some ambient trip-hop. It’s the sort of music that I neither love nor hate. Although that said I did have a fleeting interest in the genre after falling in love with the song ‘2Wicky’ by Belgium’s Hooverphonic, that appeared on a number of soundtracks including, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, ‘Stealing Beauty’ and ‘Heights’. That was the late ‘90’s, and since then I’ve bought three houses, had two marriages and one child, so a lot has happened.
The title track, ‘Missed Love’ has a haunting vibe with singer Julie’s vocals. There is quick snare work on the drums in the background and slow melodic guitars and thick atmospherics. This is only slightly better than the great second track, ‘Day Before You Came’. This has a more Folk/Guitar vibe to the background music whilst Julie sings in a loud whisper and an additional electric guitar riff gives some meat and balls to the track. There is a beauty and beast and yin-yang or male/female about the songs that make them accessible, whilst also being a touch enchanting.
‘The River’ is a slower piece and sounds a little like a cross between PJ Harvey, Tori Amos and Ana Brun, whereby the vocals are a little higher and drawn out. The electro-beats are slow and dull as a keyboard tip-toes the melody out. It is slightly under par from the first two tracks. The last song, which funnily enough is entitled, ‘Last’ is another slow track and leans more towards the track before than the first two. There is a minimal backbeat and the melodies are nothing much more than high beats on a keyboard. The vocals could be from the likes of Thom Yorke if he had a female voice crossed with the delivery of Muse.
The first half of the EP is enigmatic and if doesn’t grab you straight away sure sets the foundations that grow with each listen, however the second half takes more work as the tracks are thoughtful, and rely heavily on lyrics, whilst not really standing out as tracks on their own. They could be a band to look out for but on the basis of this overall they are just a bit better than mediocre. Shame.