Laudanum
Your Place & Time Will Be Mine

For my second review, I once again choose an electro-pop work: "Your Place & Time Will Be Mine" by Laudanum.
Laudanum is Matthieu Malon, a French musician with a primarily electronic style.
His second album is structured into thirteen electro-pop tracks with various nuances like electroclash, featuring numerous collaborations with vocalists.

Malon is an excellent musician and the production work is meticulous, but the fact that it is technically valid cannot suffice because it lacks that something extra that would make it an excellent work. I am referring mostly to the songwriting skills, which in this album are inadequate.

The entry track "Collide" is one, sometimes two notches above the level of the other songs. "Collide" is a slow song with great emotional capabilities: soft falsetto and dark voice coexist well with piano and drums, all cohesively brought together by Malon's electronic sounds.
"On The Fire Side" is a slow track with uncertain violins and synths.
After these two superior tracks, the level drops to become stagnant and sometimes banal.

Of the crackling of "This 80's-Car", only the featuring of the alluring Noemie is salvageable.

The edge is missing in the sensual but rhetorical "Perfect", as well as in "Cruise control", whose piano is frankly forgettable.

On the other hand, "Left Handed Right Mind" is a good episode, playful rap and prominent bass, while the industrial of "Sailor Adn Bruno" can superficially appear pleasant thanks to the singing of Christian Quermalet from the Married Monk.

Another episode with a well-chosen collaboration is "Be Mad Or Whatever" with the female voice of Elsa from Monovalley. The pop-rock of "The World Will Not Forget You" is superfluous.

In the end, summing it all up, two, at most three tracks of absolute level (above all "Collide"), some tracks whose level is elevated by successful collaborations ("This 80's Car" feat. Noemie, "Be Mad Or Whatever" feat. Christian Quermelet"). For the rest, a predictable album, at times even boring and quite obvious, and it is a shame because Matthieu Malon has the electronic knowledge and technique to produce better works.